Tell Me There's A Class For This
by NiffStral
Summary: Sora wouldn't have minded a normal life, but with a ghost as his brother, 'normal' was a rarity. But when the two go to boarding school, life won't ever be the same. AU, ghost-fic, Riku/Sora, AkuRoku, Zemyx. BEING REWRITTEN. WILL POST NEW VERSION SHORTLY.
1. Prologue

Outkast Angel: Welcome, mortals. You have stumbled into a world of my making...Beware!

NiffStral: -cough- Right...

Outkast Angel: -sigh- You're no fun...

NiffStral: Anywho, Outkast Angel and I decided to co-write a Kingdom Hearts fanfic after ages of reading them in awe. This is the product of our insanity.

Outkast Angel: waves a flag Roxas pwns!

NiffStral: Sora's way kewler.

Outkast Angel: gasp NO! You lie! YOU LIE!

NiffStral: Nuh-uh! YOU lie! XP

Outkast Angel: Roxas pwns Sora hard. End of story. ... I think we're getting off topic.

NiffStral: Yes, I suppose we are. But Sora's much more own. ANYWAY, here's our attempt at writing a KH fic.

Oukast Angel: -scoff-

NiffStral: -ignores- The prologue here is the only chapter that'll be in first person, the rest will be third person limited to Sora and Roxas. And they'll be a lot longer. So, look forward to that if this doesn't float your boat.

Oukast Angel: ...'float your boat'?

NiffStral: It's way cooler than anything you can come up with, so neuh.

Oukast Angel: psh. ANYways... this is yaoi. hooray!

NiffStral: Yay yaoi! Whee! Though it won't happen for a few more chapters, I'm sad to say. TT

Oukast Angel: but it will be there, so do not fear! No lemons, though...

NiffStral: . I don't even wanna try to write one of those...

Oukast Angel: nn' hehe

NiffStral: So, anyways, enjoy ze ghost fic! WAIT!! Disclaimer. Care to do the honors?

Oukast Angel:...-sob- I don't own Kingdom Hearts -sniffle- It hurts to admit it...

NiffStral: -pats- There, there. We've still got our dignity.

Oukast Angel: ...No. No, we don't.

NiffStral: ...Shut up. Anyway, as for warnings, there's yaoi, ghostlyness, and gratuitous amounts of Sora's optimism to be frightened of.

Oukast Angel: And pranks! ...I don't think that counts as a warning, though... ah well. Pranks galore!

NiffStral: Oh, you and your pranks. Crazy fun.

Oukast Angel: Yup yup. Enjoy! Flames are welcome!

NiffStral: Though we'd prefer it in the form of constructive criticism.

Oukast Angel: -grin-

**-PROLOGUE-**

I suppose I've always been different. Different from the masses, I mean. I've always been cheerfully optimistic- to a fault, at times, or so I've been told. Always seeing the happier, less depressing side of things and all. Even though my twin brother died when we were very young, I still kept a sincere smile on my face.

Of course, that could also be because said brother still lives with me.

Not lives in the traditional sense of the word, of course. He's pretty dead.

He just happens to be a ghost.

Now, not the creepy, horror movie ghost we're all used to! He doesn't go around clanking chains and butchering innocent house-buyers (he yelled at me after I watched Thirteen Ghosts. It wasn't my fault I got nightmares). He's a good ghost. Not good in a Casper sense, but he is my brother. He's grown up with me through the years, which I never really questioned before. I mean, since when can a dead person continue to grow after they've died? The other ghosts I've met haven't grown at all since they died. I guess Roxas is just special.

Maybe it's because he's got an amazing brother like me to help him. Not to sound conceited, of course. I've been told I'm too modest for my own good.

Okay, no I haven't. Not by anyone alive, anyways. I probably would have been told that, though, if anyone talked to me.

Roxas says that I'm not missing out on anything. He says that the people on Destiny Islands are creeps and that they don't deserve to be my friends. But I still wish that someone would at least talk to me, instead of staring at me and whispering rumors behind my back.

I've never actually had a friend. Not since Kairi left, I mean, but that was years ago. I have had plenty of ghost friends, but they don't really count because they're, well… dead. And hanging out with dead people that the other Islanders can't see doesn't really help the whole 'really, mom, I swear, I'm not on drugs and I'm not crazy' speech I've been giving my mom the past few years, ever since she made me go see a shrink when she caught me talking to my brother one day. She shouldn't have even been home, at that, so it's not like that was my fault.

Roxas had been pretty upset about that. So I pretended to get really angry when the shrink brought up my dead twin, and Roxas had used his 'ghostly powers' to make the shrink's desk shake. The poor shrink had nearly wet himself before he kicked me out.

In hindsight, that probably wasn't such a good idea, since the next day I heard a girl talking about how I was supposed to be really into black magic and how I thought I was a witch. My only consolation to this is that they didn't storm my house with torches and pitchforks and try to burn me at the stake. Thank heavens I don't live in medieval times. Though sometimes, I feel though if I did live in those times, I'd meet at least a few people who share my pain, if history class has taught me anything about that era.

…I'm getting off topic again. Roxas always tells me not to do that, but I can't really help it. I like to ramble a lot.

Well, in case you haven't been able to tell, my life pretty much revolves around one thing: my brother. We're hardly ever apart. The only time he isn't by my side is when I'm taking a shower or when I'm asleep. And whenever he isn't following me around, telling me exactly what he would do to certain people who make him angry, he's hanging around Neverwas.

I've always wanted to visit Neverwas. I mean, Roxas gets to go everywhere in the living world, why can't I hang out in the ghost world once in awhile?

When we were little, I used to fall asleep listening to the stories Roxas told me about Neverwas. He told me about the pranks he pulled, the people he met, and the weird things he saw.

Actually, Neverwas is the reason I know as much as I do about why I'm such a freak.

Oops. Roxas said that if he heard me calling myself a freak again he'd tear up Hayner's yard. My bad.

Well, I don't really consider myself to be a freak. My self-esteem isn't that low. What I meant was 'Neverwas is the reason I know as much as I do about being a Seer.' Yeah, that works. That thought would be Roxas-approved, right? Right.

Anyway, Roxas told me that there are other Seers, people who can see ghosts out there, but I don't believe him. If there were other freaks, oops, I mean, 'people with special qualities' like me, why would I be in this mess, where my only friend is my dead ghost-brother?

Well, I've tried to make friends before. But it's pretty difficult when everyone on the Islands thinks I'm insane or involved in a cult. There were a few times, though, when I thought I'd made some friends at school. It was nice while it lasted, but then Roxas told me that they were planning a prank on me or were just using me. I wasn't mad at my brother. I was glad he'd saved me from all that hurt and embarrassment, but I was pretty disappointed to hear about it. It felt nice, thinking I was liked, you know?

Roxas didn't exactly react well when he saw how sad I was. That was when he started vandalizing people's houses. Am I a bad person because that kind of made me feel better? Roxas said no, but he was the one doing to vandalizing, so I'm not exactly sure I believe him.

Anyway, I don't really mind that Roxas is my only friend. I mean, I do, but it isn't really because he's dead. Or maybe it is because he's dead. Mostly it's because he can't touch me, and I can't touch him. I've lived almost my entire life without a hug from my twin brother. How depressing is that?

I think it must be worse for Roxas, though. He can't touch anybody at all. I only brought it up once and he looked at me funny and said that he was sorry he couldn't give me a hug. Then he went off to Neverwas and I didn't see him for two days. That's the longest we've ever been apart, and I didn't bring it up again because those two days were the loneliest days of my life, and I didn't want him to leave again. He's all I have.

Well, I have my mom. But she doesn't really count, seeing as she's never here. And my dad left awhile ago. He just left one day and never came home. Roxas and I were four or five at the time, I think. A few years later were when our mom started to go on really long business trips. She never got a babysitter, but there was always enough food in the house, and Roxas was always there to wake me up and help me with school stuff.

The last time I saw my mom was about three months ago. Now that I think about it, she should be back in a few days. Maybe this time she'll stay at least a week before leaving again. Last time she was back on the Islands she didn't even stop by the house to say hi. That kind of hurt, but Roxas was there and he managed to distract me.

Roxas has always been there for me, especially when my mom wasn't. When the kids at school made fun me. When I would nearly be used for some horrible crime. He's like my own guardian angel, in a way. Not that he's perfect in the typical sense of guardian angels, I've had many share at helping him through his own downs. He always takes care of me, even though he's only older by a minute, and sometimes I forget how hard it must be for him, being a ghost.

I depend on Roxas way too much, and I'm well aware of it. If Roxas were to just disappear one day, like some of the ghosts we used to know, I'm sure I would just wither away. I think I might actually mean that literally, too, because it's always Roxas who bugs me about eating. I only eat when I'm hungry, and lately I haven't been feeling hungry at all. So Roxas always tells me that he's the one who's already dead and that as much as he loves me, he doesn't want me to join him.

I kind of like to think that Roxas depends on me, too. I don't like thinking that I'm just his brother who he feels he needs to look after. I mean, Roxas and I have had a lot of really deep conversations. They mostly started because I was crying, admittedly, but I think that Roxas would have been crying too, if he could have.

Oh yeah, Roxas can't cry. No ghost can, from what he tells me. Ghosts can't eat or sleep, either. I haven't managed to gather up the courage to ask what else ghosts can't do, but as far as I know Roxas has never had a crush on someone.

Not that I've ever really had a crush on someone, either. It's hard liking someone when everyone around you treats you like dirt. But, well, I've noticed enough to know that I'm not quite exactly completely straight. Roxas was the one who told me that I was bi, actually. I was just watching TV one day and he walked up to me and looked at me funny before turning the TV off.

Then he turned to me with a serious look and said, "Sora, you're bi."

Then I kind of stared at him for a minute before saying, "are you sure?"

He nodded, and I said, "Oh. Well, I guess I'm bi."

Then we watched TV.

It's not the best story, but it's mine and Roxas says that I should be glad that it wasn't filled with an insane amount of drama. So I guess I'm glad that I found out my sexuality from my dead twin brother. Not exactly normal, but at least there weren't any tears.

The point is, it's always been me and Roxas. Er... Roxas and me. Us against the world, whether it be living or dead. I never thought I'd meet anyone else who I could connect with- in any way. So you can imagine my surprise when mom came back home a couple days later with news that would change that fact entirely.


	2. Chapter One

NiffStral: Greetings, all! Welcome to chapter one of our fanfic!

Outkast Angel: Yes! Welcome!

NiffStral: Sorry the author's note seemed so long compared to the actual fic for the prologue. We got kinda carried away...

Outkast Angel: 'twas fun

NiffStral: But this actual chapter is quite a bit longer, so it should make up for that.

Outkast Angel: Sora does lotsa angsting in this one. Angst is so much fun!

NiffStral: Yes. Fun. Sure. Are you /positive/ you don't need psyciatric help?

Outkast Angel: ...my last shrink told me there was nothing wrong and pushed me out the door and locked it... So yeah. I'm good.

NiffStral: I'm sure they did. I'm sure anyone would. Anyway, after this the next chapter won't come out for a while, so you only get this to settle over. Have fun with that.

Outkast Angel: Whoever figures out what's weird with the Kairi/Sora/Roxas convo gets a cookie!

NiffStral: ...I know. Can I have the cookie?

Outkast Angel:...No.

NiffStral: XP Anehwho, time for some disclaimin'.

Outkast Angel: I can't say it again. It's too painful. You go.

NiffStral: Fine. Psh. Sadly, the world of Kingdom Hearts and anything relating to it does not belong to us. Despite our large collection of cookies. Ella the ghost, however, does. Yay Ella!

Outkast Angel: oh yeah! I forgot about her...

NiffStral: You would. As for the warnings, same as last chapter. And I'm so sorry, Tidus! I made you so mean! -glomps Tidus-

Outkast Angel: Well, someone's gotta be an asshole.

NiffStral: I s'pose. On with the fic!

**-CHAPTER ONE-**

"Sora, mom's home! She's been home for half an hour, which, by the way, is when I started this. Wake up already!" Roxas yelled out, angered by his slow-to-wake brother. Said brother merely rolled over and grumbled, slowly moving his pillow over his head.

"Nyarguhfoon," The brunet mumbled, gracing his brother with the sound of his voice, as un-wordy as it was. Roxas sighed, wishing, not for the first time, that he had corporeal hands to use to slap his brother.

Grinning, Roxas started to float away. "Okay, I guess I'll just have to freak her out again. I wonder how much she would like the dinner table on the roof. What d'you think, Sora?"

Sora, hearing this, opened his eyes wide from their spot under the pillow, screamed a muffled "No!", and tried to get out of bed to stop his wayward brother.

'Tried' being the key word.

As he pushed himself up from his bed, his legs tangled in the sheets now bunched up around his legs and he fell off the bed, landing with his cheek pressed up against the floor, hands around his head, with his legs still trapped in the blankets on top of the mattress. As he grumbled, Roxas burst into laughter.

"Ha! Oh god, that's great. I need to do that more often to wake you up," He said, pretending to wipe tears of mirth from his face. The boy on the ground glared up at his brother, slowly pushing himself up as he removed his legs from their blanket prison.

"Gee, some brother you are. You're supposed to look after me, not laugh at my misfortune. What positive influences I have in my life, really." He said angrily, still glaring at the ghost. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Come on, don't be all sarcastic. It doesn't suit you. I'm sorry?" Roxas tried, blinking innocently at his brother. Sora, being the forgiving person that he was, tried to keep glaring, but dropped it and sighed, smiling up at the other boy.

"Okay, apology accepted. Now, what did you say earlier? Mom's back?"

"Yeah, and since she hasn't left yet," a scowl made its way onto his brother's face as he spoke, "I think she wants to actually talk this time."

Sora frowned at his brother as he stretched.

"C'mon Roxas, don't be like that," he said. "You know she doesn't mean it."

"Whatever," Roxas mumbled, dropping the subject. "You hungry? No, don't answer that, I know what you're gonna say. Eat breakfast anyway, then go talk to mom. She's in her room."

Sora grinned as he bounded out of his room.

"Can you make me breakfast again?" He asked as they entered the kitchen.

Roxas threw him an amused glance.

"You really want to risk it?" He asked, his eyes traveling to the stairs, thinking of their mother.

"No," Sora sighed as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. "But I really wanted an omelet."

Roxas grinned.

"I'll make you an omelet tomorrow," he promised.

They were silent for a few minutes as Sora ate his cereal and Roxas got lost in thoughts of Neverwas. He snapped out of it when Sora called his name.

"Yeah?"

"When did you change?" Sora frowned, indicating to Roxas' new outfit.

"Last night in Neverwas," Roxas shrugged. "The old clothes were getting too small."

Sora nodded in understanding before scrutinizing his brother's new clothes.

"Why do you always just wear a T-shirt and jeans, Rox?" Sora asked. "You could wear anything and nobody would tease you. Except me. And the other ghosts on the Islands, but you get the point."

"What, you want me to dress up in drag?" Roxas snorted, his eyes alight with laughter. "How about the next time I need new clothes I let you pick them out?"

Sora voiced his agreement, finding the arrangement acceptable. He finished his cereal and dumped his bowl into the sink before turning and grinning at his brother.

"So… How's Neverwas?" Sora asked.

Roxas frowned. "As much as I don't like this, Sora, you're going to have to talk to mom sooner or later. You should just get it over with."

Sora's shoulders slumped as he leaned against the counter.

"It's Friday," he complained. "And we get a three day weekend! And the semester just ended! Why'd she have to come today?"

"'Cause she's a wicked she-devil who likes making your life crap," Roxas said without pausing to think. "Weren't you just defending her?"

"She always ruins my good mood when she comes," Sora scowled. "And that was before I remembered we had today off."

Sora continued to scowl when his brother didn't answer. But when Roxas burst into laughter, his scowl turned into a pout.

"What?" He moaned.

"You looked so weird like that, all angry," Roxas grinned cheekily. "You're always so bouncy and happy."

Sora wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that his brother was teasing him. He couldn't have that happening without getting some sort of revenge. So he crossed his arms, stuck out his tongue, and all was righted in the world.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Sora let his arms drop and peeked sheepishly at his brother through his bangs.

"You're gonna be there, right? You won't leave?" He asked softly.

Roxas stared at him as though he'd declared his undying love of vegetables.

"Of course I am," he said.

Sora accepted this answer and his brother tossed him an encouraging grin as he headed for the stairs. He paused outside of their mother's closed door, his fist poised to knock. Roxas nodded at him, and he bit his lip and knocked softly.

"Come in, Sora," his mother called from inside the room.

Sora shot a helpless look at his brother before he took a deep breath and opened the door.

"You dyed your hair," Sora blurted out, before he had a chance to think.

It was true, though. His mother's previously blonde locks were now a deep auburn that Sora didn't think suited her at all. His mother raised her eyebrows-also auburn, Sora realized somewhere in the back of his mind.

"Sora, it's nice to see you again," She said.

"Bitch," Roxas murmured, referring to the forced-polite tone in which she spoke to his brother.

Holding back a glare towards his brother, seeing as that would worry his mother, and he cared about what she thought of him, he gave her a fake smile.

"It's nice to see you again too, mom. How was the trip?" Sora asked, ever the example of being polite, whereas his brother was muttering profanities her in direction, which Sora was doing his best to ignore.

The woman gave her son a very shaky smile.

"It was fine, thank you for asking." She said, gaze drifting around her room, no doubt checking to see if Sora had changed it in any way, which he had not, though he did fix everything from Roxas' last bout of anger that resulted shortly after her leaving. Sora frowned at this, but did not comment. He did not want to get on her bad side without him or Roxas having done anything wrong so soon after her return.

"Um..." He began, somewhat awkwardly. "You... Aren't you a bit early? Did you have some news, or something?" Sora asked quietly, trying to not let the conversation get bad this early in. Roxas snorted.

"Sora, quit being such a pansy, give her that anger that she deserves from you! That bitch left you alone, as far as she knew, for three freaking months! Don't take that so light!" The ghost yelled out, shaking his fist at Sora, who was almost visibly struggling in his efforts not to turn around and yell at his brother. Luckily for the brunet, their mother could still not hear her older son, and spoke.

"Yes, I did. Concerning you, actually, and your future." She said, and Roxas, despite his claims to punch her face in and other such things like that, stopped in his ranting and looked at her with intrigue. On his face, Sora had an almost identical expression.

Before he had a change to inquire on this, she turned to her purse, sticking a hand in and riffling around in it for a few moments, before pulling out what seemed to be a pamphlet. She handed it to Sora, who blinked and reached out to grab it.

Looking down at the cover, he blinked again.

"You're sending me to boarding school!?" Sora exclaimed.

"Lower your voice," his mother snapped. "It's a very good school, Sora. And it's near Hollow Bastion. You'll be able to visit the city on the weekends. You've always wanted to go there."

Sora stared at her, dumbstruck.

"When have I ever said anything about wanting to visit Hollow Bastion?" Sora demanded, forgetting that he was supposed to be polite.

"Boarding school!?" Roxas roared. "You're shipping us off to BOARDING SCHOOL?! You bitch! How could you-"

Sora tuned out his brother's ranting as his mother spoke.

"Don't take that tone with me, Sora," She said harshly. "You will enjoy it at Radiant Garden. It is a bit strict, but your education is very important. Radiant Garden is one of the best schools around."

"But- and- wha- Boarding school?!" Sora managed to articulate his thoughts rather well, given the circumstances, in his opinion. "I've never even left the Island!"

"That's enough." His mother was rubbing her temples as she stood up. "You're giving me a headache. Your flight leaves tomorrow at ten. Your ticket is on the living room table. There will be someone from the school at the airport to pick you up. They will give you your schedule and explain the rules when you get there. Go pack. Don't miss your flight."

With that she stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"Where the hell do you think you're going!?" Roxas roared at her retreating back. He turned to his brother. "Sora. Brother. Friend. Let me push her down the stairs."

Sora ignored his brother's request, stunned.

"Where are you going?" He asked, hurt dripping from his voice.

His mother glanced over her shoulder at him.

"I have to leave," She said, waving the questioned away with a manicured hand. "Important business trip to Wonderland."

And with that she was gone. Sora stayed rooted to the spot as he heard her car start up outside. Roxas stared at him, worry replacing his anger. Sora looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

"She's just… leaving," Sora said softly. "She didn't even-"

"Oh no," Roxas said, moving closer to his brother. "Please don't cry, Sora. Please."

"'m not crying," Sora muttered, wiping the tears from his face. "I just-she's just, shipping us off so that she doesn't have to worry about getting in trouble with social services."

Roxas frowned at how bitter his brother sounded. He tossed an angry glare in the direction their mother had driven off in, desperately wishing he'd at least thrown something at her.

"It's the middle of the school year!" Sora exclaimed weakly, sitting on the ground. "The semester just ended! I think I even got an A in English-well, that's mostly thanks to you, but-"

"It won't be so bad," Roxas said, sitting down besides his brother.

Sora looked at him as though he'd grown another head.

"Don't look at me like that," Roxas grinned. "I'm serious. Think of it as a way to start over. No one knows you there. No one thinks you're crazy, or that you're a witch," He paused to snicker at the comment. "You can go and pretend to be normal, and make friends. Maybe even get a boyfriend or girlfriend."

"You really think so?" Sora said hopefully.

"'Course I do. And you know the best thing about dating and having a ghost for a brother?" Roxas grinned when Sora shook his head. "You don't have to worry about them cheating on you, 'cause if they even look at someone else they're gonna be nailed to the ceiling."

Sora laughed. "You can't nail anyone to the ceiling."

"Yes I can! But since you don't like blood, I promise I'll just get their clothes."

Sora grinned and was about to reply when the phone rang from downstairs. Roxas and Sora stared at each other before yelling. "KAIRI!"

Sora bounded out of the room and down the stairs, while Roxas smirked and sunk through the floor. The blonde answered the phone as Sora made a face at him. Roxas stuck his tongue out.

"Hey Kairi," He said, grinning to himself as Sora glared at him from across the room.

"…Roxas?" She sounded unsure.

"Yeah."

"How'd you know it was me?" She asked lightly.

"You're the only one who ever calls," Roxas said, rolling his eyes as he watched Sora trip over a chair.

Kairi's laughter sounded nervous. Roxas was slightly amused.

"Nervous?" He asked.

"Well… It's just that… well… You're kind of…"

"Dead?" Roxas suggested.

"Umm.. Yeah," she said. "It would probably be different if I was able to see you."

"…We're on the phone, Kai."

"You know what I mean. I meant if I was a Seer," She said. "Well… anyway…"

"You wanna talk to Sora?"

"…Yeah."

"YO SORA!" Roxas yelled. "Pick up the phone!"

Sora ran over to his brother and banged his hands on the table. Still grinning, Roxas dropped the phone, and right as if became touchable for humans again, Sora snached it up. Glaring at his brother, as he put the phone to his ear his face switched into a wide grin. Roxas sighed, amazed that the brunet could have such a personality.

"Hey, Kairi!" He said, holding the phone tightly as he nearly bounced in excitement.

"Hey, Sora!" She said in response, most likely grinning as well at the boy's exuberance. Roxas coughed, staring at Sora with a raised eyebrow, and Sora turned to the ghost.

"Go away, Roxas." He said, in a way that would have been rude if it was not Sora who was talking.

"Psh, like I want to listen to you guys talk for hours on end," Roxas rolled his eyes. "I'm going to Neverwas. Call me if you need me Sora."

"'Kay," Sora agreed brightly. "Bye Roxas!"

"You girls have fun!" Roxas said before hanging up.

Sora let out a noise of protest and Kairi laughed.

"No matter how much I talk to him, I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Kairi sighed before brightening. "How are you? And don't just tell me 'fine.' You know how much I hate that. How have things been?"

Sora had planned to tell Kairi about the new stories he had heard from the ghosts around the Islands. He'd planned to tell her about his grades, and how people hadn't changed, and still treated him as though he was insane or invisible. Whatever he had planned on telling her, it wasn't about his mom throwing him into boarding school. Which was why he was so shocked when the words came tumbling out of his mouth.

"My mom's sending me to boarding school and being on the Islands sucks, but at least I know everyone, and all the ghosts here like me, and what if no one likes me at the school? Roxas says that I'll be able to make friends there, but I've never been good at talking to people, and this is boarding school! Where you have to live with all the people you hate and not just deal with them nine hours a day!" He took a breath, feeling a bit hysterical. "And Roxas says that I can pretend to be normal, but he always comes to my classes and makes sure that I pay attention and explains stuff to me when the teachers don't make sense and everyone knows I'm a freak so they don't really mind when they think I'm talking to myself in the back of the class but if I have to-"

"Sora! Sora! Slow down!" Kairi said, sounding worried. "Breathe. There. That's good. Feel better?"

"A little," Sora said, breathing deeply while lying down on the couch, determinedly not looking at the plane ticket that sat on the table taunting him.

"So, boarding school, huh?" Kairi asked. "That should be fun."

"Fun?" Sora spluttered. "Fun?"

"Don't be like that, Sora," Kairi sighed. "A lot of different kinds of people go to boarding school. People you didn't grow up with."

"Yeah, but what about-"

Sora was cut off by the sound of someone yelling. He frowned as he heard Kairi put her hand over the receiver.

"Hey Sora, I have to go," Kairi sighed. "It was nice talking to you. And don't worry so much, okay? Roxas sounds like he has the right idea. You should listen to him."

"Alright," Sora said hesitantly. "Call my cell next time. I'll be at the school by Sunday."

"Okay," Kairi agreed. "Stay happy Sora."

"Bye, Kai," Sora said and hung up.

Sighing, Sora thought about calling for Roxas, but decided against it. He didn't want Roxas to get mad at him, calling him from Neverwas just because he was bored and didn't want to be alone. Instead, he threw on his shoes and left the house, locking the door behind him. He only had a day to say goodbye to everyone, and Roxas wasn't too fond of the ghosts on the Island, anyway.

He grinned at random people who were mulling around, pretending that he didn't notice when they started whispering or gave him dirty looks when he made a beeline towards the deserted park. He was used to it by now, but normally Roxas was there to distract him.

"Sora!" A light, feathery voice called out.

"Hey Ella," Sora grinned as he sat on a swing.

Ella was one of the few ghosts that Roxas could stand on the Island.

"Where's your darling brother? Not still mad at me, is he?" Ella smiled, referring to a previous conversation.

"No, he's not mad anymore. But I think you might have taken it a little but too far with the 'prince charming' part," Sora said. "He's in Neverwas right now, probably pranking someone."

"It's not like him to let you wander around on your own," Ella frowned slightly as she spoke.

"Hey! I can take care of myself!" Sora huffed indignantly.

Ella was amused.

"Of course you can, dear," she said. "What I meant was that I rarely see you out on your own. Roxas is always keeping you company."

"Oh, well, he has things to do, I guess."

Ella stared at him for a moment before smirking. Sora shuddered. Ella was not supposed to smirk.

"He doesn't know where you are, does he?" Ella asked in a low voice, her eyes glowing. Sora blushed.

"Shut up," He mumbled, embarrassed. "I just didn't feel like calling him from Neverwas just 'cause I was bored. He's probably busy."

"What's wrong, Sora?" Ella sighed as she 'sat' on the swing next to his. Sora didn't bother asking how she knew something was wrong. It wasn't hard for people to read him.

"I'm being sent to boarding school," Sora said sulkily.

"That's wonderful!" Ella exclaimed happily.

"It's...wonderful?" Sora asked blankly.

"Of course! When you get out of here you'll meet other Seers! They're naturally attracted to each other, you know."

"But I-"

Sora bit his lip as he suddenly noticed three rather large boys only a short distance away. And they were heading towards him. Sora figured he had about twenty seconds before they reached him. After that they'd taunt him for maybe two minutes before beating him into a pulp.

Ella frowned as she noticed what Sora was staring at.

"You'd better start running, dear," She told Sora solemnly. "I'll go get your brother, shall I?"

Sora quickly stood, nodding, and bolted. He heard a startled shout from one of the boys, and hoped that they would give it up as a lost cause and go bully someone who wasn't him. That didn't happen, of course, and Sora soon heard the sound of heavy footsteps running after him.

Sora was rather fast, having had dealt with this kind of behavior for as long as he could remember. It had become almost like a tradition, actually. Sora's peers would see him, mock him, and eventually beat him up. It was just how things were, no matter what Roxas did to convince them that Sora had a rather protective guardian angel following him around, willing to rip off limbs at a moments notice (Sora did his best to never let it get that far. There had been one time with the throwing of the butter knife, though, but she'd moved away and no one ever spoke of that). So yes, Sora was a little speed demon. He could outrun anyone on the Island besides Roxas, who didn't count because he didn't actually run.

However, Sora was also rather clumsy, and was not really surprised when he managed to trip over a pair of red Converse that happened to be lying in the middle of the sidewalk. Before he had a chance to realize that his palms were stinging and his nose was only a few centimeters from the ground, Sora was pulled up by his shirt collar and was punched in the stomach.

_No insults?_ Sora thought as the fist connected again. _That's new._

He heard laughter and realized that two of the three had decided to watch instead of joining in. That was also new.

And then the large, angry young man who seemed to have his heart set on breaking one of Sora's ribs was suddenly thrown backwards into his two laughing friends. The three of them fell to the ground in a heap and Sora grinned at his brother who was glaring down at them in all his translucent glory.

"Get going," Roxas growled at his brother.

"Don't hurt them, please?" Sora bit his bottom lip as Roxas leveled a Look at him.

"I wont hurt them much," He said, turning his attention back to the three teenagers, who'd managed to

untangle their limbs from one another's and were muttering various profanities.

Sora, knowing that was about the best he was going to get out of Roxas, turned and ran.

**-PAGE BREAK-**

Roxas wasn't really concentrating as he rained hell (and a rather large rock) upon the shins of the idiots who tried to hurt his brother. He even did as Sora requested and let them limp away without any permanent damage.

He drew a breath that he didn't need and sighed softly as he began the short trek home, his thoughts straying to memories of his and Sora's younger years. Sora mostly tried to forget them, but Roxas didn't. He even remembered the first time Sora ever asked about something ghostly, though he doubted his brother did.

They'd been about five or six, and Sora had asked why he could touch things that weren't alive but not things that were. Roxas, not knowing the answer, had tossed a paper ball at his head and told him to shut up. After visiting Neverwas and plaguing Demyx with his questions, he yanked Sora's covers-and Sora himself- out of the bed and had grinned at him.

"Demy said that ghosts don't really ever touch anything in the real world," he'd told his sleepy brother. "We just make things do what we want them to with our ghost power stuff."

"Like magic?" Sora had yawned.

"Yup," Roxas had grinned at his brother. "Then Demy said that you can't really make anything alive do what they don't want to unless you possess them. Then he said 'ow' 'cause Zexion hit him on the head and then they kicked me out of the room."

"Why?" Sora had blinked curiously at him.

"I think they had a fight," Roxas had said gleefully. "And Zexion won, 'cause next time I saw Demy he was walking funny."

The last statement had inevitably led to a discussion about how ghosts walk in Neverwas instead of float, an argument about video games, and two pouting twins. Roxas had then snatched an ice cream bar from the store and Sora had forgiven him.

"Are they alright?" Sora's worried voice cut through Roxas' thoughts and the blonde blinked, realizing that he was in the living room of their house.

"They'll live," He said icily. "You should have called for me when you saw them."

"I thought I could outrun them," Sora was staring at his shoes and refused to look at him. "And I thought you'd be busy in Neverwas."

"I was just pranking Demy again," Roxas shrugged. "Nothing big. At least we won't have to worry about this after this weekend."

"Oh, yeah," Sora said dully. "Ella said something about Seers attracting each other."

"...You think there's going to be Seers at the school?" Roxas said slowly, a malicious grin forcing its way onto his face. Sora sighed.

"I dunno. I doubt it, though. I mean, if Ella's right, then wouldn't there be some more here? We're probably really rare... I doubt I'd get so lucky as to meet any at some boarding school." The brunet said a bit regretfully. Roxas frowned as crossed his arms.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But still, it'd be cool meeting others who could see me."

Shrugging, Sora jumped off the chair he had sat down on, and began to head for the door. Curious, Roxas followed through the wood as Sora locked it behind him.

"Think I'll go to the beach, see if I can say goodbye to some friends." Sora said while they walked and floated down the street in response to Roxas's unasked question. The ghost nodded, gazing up at the slowly setting sun.

"I'm sure Ella's told some people by now. And I doubt there can be many people down there, seeing as it's January and only idiots and dead people would head down to the beach at this time." Roxas replied, now hovering on his back with his arms crossed behind his head, floating alongside Sora, who glared at the 'idiot' comment.

A few minutes later found the brothers walking on the cool sand, smiling at the dark blue ocean in the distance. It was a very peaceful place, and Sora was glad to see that there was no sign of life.

"Sora, Roxas!" A high voice called out as a yellow blur zoomed towards the pair from a few feet away.

Before the two could even turn around, Sora involuntarily shivered as he got the familiar feeling of a ghostly presence rushing through his body. He blinked as he saw the yellow blur zoom away from them and into the nearby lifeguard stand before it stopped and spun around mid-air, zooming back towards them. The two rolled their eyes as another voice came from the place the blur had come from.

"Selphie, wait up!" A lower voice called out, floating more slow towards the pair. Sora smiled brightly as he recognized the two ghosts.

"Tidus! And Selphie!" He said, the latter part yelled behind his shoulder to the ghost who was slowly making her way towards the three. Roxas laughed at the disgruntled look on her face as she mimed slapping him.

"Shut up, Roxas. And Sora, it's so good to see you! I haven't seen you in forever! I mean, forever as in yesterday, but still! And Ella told us about the boarding school thing and you can't leave 'cause I'm gonna miss you so much but it's still good that you're getting out 'cause people here are jackasses and-"

"Whoa, Selph, slow down!" Tidus said, holding out his hands. Sora was nodding and smiling shakily during the girl's speech, while Roxas rolled his eyes yet again.

As Tidus calmed down, two more ghosts came up, floating casually towards the now four. Sora grinned at the two newcomers, waving an arm.

"Wakka, Lulu! Hey, guys! Great to see you!" He called out as the two came. The tanned ghost along with his girlfriend, also ghost, smiled at the boy, who was jumping up and down in excitement at all his friends.

"Hey, Sora! Great to see ya! How ya been?" Wakka asked, smiling at the exuberant boy. Sora had always marveled on the fact that even in his translucent state, he somehow managed to bring his tan to the afterlife with him. What was more funny was that Lulu, his girlfriend, was the most pale ghost Sora had ever seen. He often wondered how the two got together while they were still alive, but had never gotten the guts to ask.

"Awesome!" Sora replied instinctively, but with the question he was suddenly reminded of the reason for his depression that had been with him for the majority of the day. Sighing, he plopped down into the sand, burying his fingers under the soft texture. He laughed a little as the five ghosts all 'sat' in a circle around him.

"What is this, an intervention?" He asked jokingly, and he heard four sighs coming from around him.

"Sora... We heard about the boarding school thing. We know you're upset about it, but-"

"But what!?" Sora cut off Tidus, glaring at the ghost angrily with sparks of tears in his eyes. "I won't see any of you for half a year! I'll be treated the same way as here, they'll hate me, and I won't have any of you to help me through it." He cried out, sniffling as he ducked his head, letting his spikes cover his eyes.

"Sora, it's won't be that bad. Come on, cheer up! Roxas'll be there, and he can make things fun for you." Selphie said, trying to look on the bright side. She, along with the other ghosts were not exactly huge Roxas fans for whatever reason, but they cared for Sora, and knew that Roxas could make things easier for him.

"I guess..." He mumbled, playing with the sand idly.

"Sora, you have to accept this new change in your life, no matter what comes of it. And I have a feeling that good things will come from this change. Young people like you shouldn't have this much sorrow in they're life." A new voice said, coming from behind them. Turning around, Sora smiled, sniffling as he waved Ella over. Everyone smiled at the friendly woman except Lulu, who never smiled at anyone but Wakka and Sora on rare occasions.

"Sorry I'm late for Sora's intervention-" Sora glared, "-but I had to see Yuna off. She made it on." Ella said, smiling gently. Everyone else widened their eyes for a moment before grinning.

"That's wonderful! She had such a troubled past, it seemed like. I'm glad she found her solace." Selphie said, clapping her hands together. The others nodded in agreement, but Sora and Roxas frowned in confusion.

"Wait, Yuna... moved on? But, how? I was just talking to her yesterday! I mean, she did seem a little off when she left, but still..." Sora pondered, now wondering about this. He looked up to see Tidus shrug.

"Eh, who cares. She made it, that's more than any of us can say. I'd give anything to leave this stink-hole." The blond sighed, crossing his arms. Sora frowned.

"Hey, I know people can be mean, but Earth's not that bad. I mean, I'm fine. And I've got Roxas to back me up." Sora grinned at his brother, who grinned back, giving him a thumbs up.

Tidus scoffed. "Please, you'd be better off without that freak." He said, glaring at Roxas, who was now fuming at the ears. Sora was sure that if he was still alive, his face would be red with anger.

"What did you say, asshole?" Roxas called out, uncrossing his legs and floating up a few feet. Tidus responded by floating up even farther.

"Oh, just that someone like Sora would be in a helluva lot better situation if he didn't have to put up with your immature, whiny actions all day, and be your babysitter for when you go nuts!" He yelled out, and the two kept rising. Sora stood up, staring with worry at his brother. He knew the short-tempered boy was at his limit.

"Alright, that's it! Let's take this to Neverwas and I'll make you join Yuna against your will!" Roxas shouted, and Sora knew it was time for him to intervene.

"Hey! Stop it, you two! Cut it out!" Sora called up, waving his arms. "Guys, please don't fight! Come on, just come back here! You don't need to go away!"

Roxas and Tidus, still growling angrily at each other and flexing their translucent muscles, slowly began to lower themselves to the ground, and promptly turned their backs on each other, huffing indignantly.

Ella sighed, putting a hand to her head. "I'm getting too old to deal with stuff like this. She said to herself, and the others nodded in agreement.

"No kidding." Lulu drawled, rolling her eyes at the two. Selphie was glaring at Tidus, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Tidus, why are you so stupid? I mean, honestly, you can show at least SOME tact in your afterlife. Sheesh. I can't believe I put up with you..." The girl in yellow called out to Tidus, who hmphed.

"Sora, I'm gonna chill with Demyx and Zexion for a little while, okay? I'll be back in a couple hours." Roxas said softly to Sora, and before the human could call out, his twin vanished. Sora dropped his arms, sighing.

He looked up a few seconds later to see Ella smiling sadly at him. "I'm sorry things had to turn out this way, Sora. I truly hope you have a wonderful time at boarding school. And things aren't always as bad as they seem, just try to make them better. You brightened up all our afterlives, Sora, I'm sure you can do the same for people you meet there. The woman said, before turning and floating off, the others following her, waving their goodbyes to Sora, who sadly waved back.

Once they were all gone from sight, Sora sighed and walked towards the ocean a little more. He gazed out at the orange sunset in the distance, and sat down in the sand just before the tide, stretching his legs out and letting the soles of his shoes get wet from the tide's water.

He didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't deal well with change. The Island was all he knew. How was he going to deal with being away from here? He had a pattern, dammit! He had a life (the fact that said life revolved around dead people didn't make any difference), sad though it may be.

Letting out a loud sigh, Sora bit his lip. What if the rest of the world was just like the Islands? That would be worse than having everything be different. What if everyone thought he was crazy? What if they hated him? Wasn't he better off here, dreaming about it, than out there, having his hopes shot down, one by one by one?

Suddenly he missed Yuna. They hadn't really been close, exactly, but she was one of the only ghosts he knew who liked his brother, even if he didn't like her at all. He felt a pain in his chest, remembering that they hadn't said goodbye before she'd moved on. That hurt a little. What was so important that she couldn't have said goodbye? Surely whatever happened beyond the afterlife wasn't that great.

_"Please, you'd be better off without that freak."_

Sora recalled Tidus' words with a frown. He was wrong, of course. If Sora didn't have Roxas with him, he'd just wither away and die. He'd never get out of bed in the morning, or he'd starve to death because Roxas wouldn't be there to tell him to eat, or he'd be beaten to death by Seifer, or he'd die of loneliness. Roxas was always taking care of him. If anything, Roxas was the one who was better off without Sora.

There was that pain again. Right where his heart was. What if Roxas really was better off without him? What if Sora was the only thing keeping his brother chained to the land of the living and the dead, and the after-afterlife really was important and great? What if he was just holding his brother back?

He blinked, feeling tears well up in his eyes. There was a tightness in his throat as he turned away from the ocean and plodded away from the beach. He'd ask Roxas about it when his brother got back, but he could already imagine the answer. 'Sora, you idiot. If I wanted to leave I would.' Or something along those lines. And Sora would stay quiet for a few moments before Roxas would smirk and lean in close to him and say something insane, like 'do you think oranges are flammable? Let's go find out!' That would make Sora burst out into a surprised laugh, and they'd go off to see if oranges are flammable or not, and everything would be okay.

Deciding not to ask after all, Sora wasn't really surprised to find a small smile on his face. He realized he was almost home as he blinked himself out of his thoughts and stared at the houses around him. Nothing had changed in the short time he'd been away, except for the fact that every house on the street had been TP'd, everyone's lawn furniture had been thrown about, the plastic lawn gnomes were in some rather compromising positions, and his brother was surveying the scene with a proud smile glued to his face.

"...What's that gnome doing?" Sora asked, staring with wide eyes. Roxas's grin grew larger.

"I saw it in a magazine Selphie was looking at," Roxas said, turning to his brother. "We should probably get home before-"

"OI! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY LAWN!"

Sora and Roxas burst into laughter as they took off down the street, ignoring the calls of "fiend! get back here and clean up this mess!" from behind them. Sora locked the front door behind him and collapsed into a pile of laughing limbs as he tried to catch his breath.

There was silence for a few moments after the laughter had died down, before Sora spoke.

"Hey Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"...Do you think oranges are flammable?"

"...I don't know. Let's go find out!"


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Note: **Outkast Angel: someone should write an AkuRoku Chobits fic for me!

NiffStral: Oh, hey, I just finished re-reading that series yesterday.

Outkast Angel: Am watching the anime n.n

NiffStral: Psh. Manga's better.

Outkast Angel: Yeah probably, but someone should still write a fic so I can be happy.

NiffStral: Getting back to the subject, thank you all so much for the reviews! They made happiness spring from mah soul like jumping beans of joy.

Outkast Angel: To the reviewer who said that Roxas pwns: -glomp- You are my new favorite person!

NiffStral: And to the reviewers who wanted to try to burn oranges, tell us how that worked out, 'cause I'm not letting OA try.

Outkast Angel: Isn't she mean? She's all like 'no, no you cannot burn an orange to see if it is flammable' -cry-

NiffStral: XP Anehwho, this chapter introduces some fun new characters that will be plot-important! Yay!

Outkast Angel: And when you're done reading don't forget to talk to Bobert. Yes. Yes I did name the review button Bobert.

NiffStral: ...Aren't you special. Anyway, I'll disclaim: Kingdom Hearts and anything relating to it is owned by a buncha rich folks who have awesome, high-paying jobs. T.T We also don't own Twilight Zone, Star Trek, or Airplane!, which we made references to.

Outkast Angel: -sob-

NiffStral: So, read, enjoy, and everyone go read the manga +Anima. It's adorable. That includes you, OA.

Outkast Angel: ...-goes back to watching Chobits-

**-CHAPTER TWO-**

Whistling filled the kitchen as Roxas idly flipped the egg-bacon-cheese mixture in the frying pan, watching it sizzle as it hit the buttered surface of the pan. Letting go of the pan's handle with his mind, Roxas slowly set it back down on the stove.

Letting the omelet sit and cook, Roxas turned around and grabbed a plate out of the cupboard, setting it down on the counter. As he bent down to grab some silverware from a lower drawer, he heard the familiar sounds of his brother descending the staircase into the kitchen.

"Mrownin'." Sora mumbled in greeting, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he dragged himself over to the counter, where upon reaching it he crossed his arms and let his head lie in them. Roxas rolled his eyes, turned off the stove, and threw the spatula he had been using at the brunet's head.

"Hey!" Sora cried out indignantly, covering his head too late. Roxas laughed and tilted the pan sideways, letting the eggy goodness fall onto the plate. Grinning, spatula forgotten, Sora grabbed the plate and a fork and dove right into the food.

"Go to the table!" Roxas said, gesturing at the circular table in the other half of the kitchen. Still eating and with cheese stretched from his mouth to the omelet where it was still connected, Sora grabbed the plate and headed for the table.

As he walked over, Roxas frowned as he saw the back of Sora's shirt.

"Can't get all the orange out?" He asked the shorter boy, who turned his head to look at his back, mouth full of egg, cheese, and bacon.

"Gwefs nwot." The boy replied, turning back to his breakfast.

Sighing, the ghost looked up at the clock on the oven. A digital "8:05" flashed out at him, and Roxas widened his eyes.

"Sora, you'd better hurry up. We did most of the packing last night, but we still need to gather it all up and head over to the airport and check in by nine." Roxas remarked while he floated up a floor to do a final run-through of the house, making sure they had not forgotten anything. Sora, still eating, frowned and got a sad look in his eye, before shaking his head and finishing up.

Bringing the empty plate to the sink, Sora went to washing the dishes as he thought about how much he would miss the Islands, and Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Yuna and Ella. They had been the only ones there for him growing up, and he could not help but fear that all the others would move on like Yuna by the time he got back, and it really would be just him and Roxas.

_I wonder if they're right, and I will be able to make living friends at Radiant Garden?_ Sora thought to himself, staring out the window as he dried the pan and his plate.

"Sora!" Roxas called from upstairs. "Hurry up and get dressed! I'll call the cab."

Resisting the urge to sigh, Sora bounded up the stairs and plastered a smile on his face when he saw his brother, who frowned at him.

"What's with the plastic smile?" He demanded. "Go change and be emo like you want to be."

At this, Sora instantly deflated and trudged to his room, head down, and felt slightly better than he would if he had to pretend to be cheerful. He could hear Roxas dropping his bags on the ground as he frowned, looking around his room. What does one wear on their first day at boarding school? Blinking, Sora realized it probably would have been a good idea to have thought of this before all his clothes were packed away.

"You just realized all your wear-able clothes are in a duffle bag downstairs, didn't you?"

Sora turned around and grinned sheepishly at his brother, who rolled his eyes.

"The cab will be here soon," Roxas informed him. "Look in the top drawer." He began to float through the floor, making his way to the bottom floor. "What would you do without me?"

Sora smiled to himself as he pulled open the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out a pair of nice jeans and a dark blue shirt that he'd never seen before. Shrugging, Sora decided that it would be better not to ask where Roxas had gotten the shirt and he got dressed and went downstairs.

"Nice timing," Roxas told him. "Cab just pulled up. Let's go."

The ride to the airport would have been peaceful, had Roxas not convinced his brother to glare darkly at the driver while muttering nonsense words before interrupting himself and saying in a slightly louder voice, "not while he's driving, not while he's driving." The driver gave him a terrified look as he took out his wallet to try to pay him, and refused to accept any money.

Blinking innocently at his brother while the cab sped off, Sora asked, "What was that all about?"

Sora was sure that, had his brother been alive, he would have cracked a rib from laughing so hard.

Turning, Sora grabbed his duffle and swung on his backpack as he looked up at the highly intimidating figure looming ahead of him. What horrors could possible await him in this so called "Destiny Islands Regional Airport"? Even the name cast fear into his heart.

During Sora's trembling, Roxas, who had also been staring up at the building with far less fear in his being, spared a glance at his brother. Again, Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Sora...Let's just go in. Stop being so crazy."

Laughing sheepishly, Sora trudged in through the sliding doors of doom, as they were dubbed in his mind.

Sensing this, Roxas made low rumbling noises as the doors slide open and shut, and laughed as Sora jumped half a foot into the air. As the passerby's stared at the most likely mentally unstable boy, Sora bent his head and dragged his feet across the carpet, his twin laughing all the while.

Going up to the line of the proper airline, with a reminder from Roxas, Sora waited until he was next.

"Next," a bored voice said from the other side of the long row of counters. Sora, who had been waiting for about half an hour, was awoken with a shout from his brother and pushed himself up, walking to the woman who had spoken.

"ID, please." The bored woman said, eyes half-closed. Trembling, Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his driver's permit. The woman snatched it up, glanced at it and punched the keyboard in front of her.

"Alright, Mr. Hikari, everything seems fine. Put your bag over there," she said, typing away and tilting her head to the metal area next to her. Lifting his duffle onto it, Sora watched as a man came out, put a white slip of paper around the handle, and took it away to the conveyor belt behind the counter. The bored woman handed him a boarding pass.

"Th-thanks," Sora stuttered out, taking the pass and turning to the escalator.

"Well, that was highly uneventful. I should've done something to her..." Roxas muttered to himself as the two went through security. Luckily, Sora did not have to be checked, but he did laugh when the machine made an odd rumbling noise when Roxas flew through it, confusing the workers.

Sora glared at his twin, grabbing his backpack and putting his shoes back on.

"Roxas! This is an airport, you can't just go around-"

"Nah-uh, no talking to me here. They'll call you crazy!" The ghost replied, looking all too cheerful. Sora crossed his arms and grumbled, turning to head towards their gate.

About forty-five minutes later, it was time for Sora and Roxas to board. As they got up after disabled and elderly were let on, Sora started jumping up and down nervously. Roxas, about to make a snide comment, decided to instead be supportive. He floated in front of his brother, giving the boy a gentle smile.

"Don't worry about it, okay? Flying's no big deal, and it's only a two hour ride. We'll be back on the ground in no time." He reassured the brunet, wishing he could put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sora calmed a little, but still had a wild look in his eye as he took a few steps forwards while the line moved.

"How would you know? You've never been on a plane before either," Sora reminded the ghost in a whisper, who shrugged.

"Eh, I've seen movies and TV shows. Really, it's no big deal." Roxas replied gently, but Sora was not done panicking yet.

"Yeah, it is! Remember that one episode of Twilight Zone, when there was that gremlin trying to destroy the plane, and no one would believe Captain Kirk about it?! And we both saw Airplane! where everyone got sick and they nearly crashed! I'm not ordering the fish, Roxas! I'm not!" Sora said, now loudly whispering. The people in front and behind him looked at the boy, whom they thought was talking to himself, with an air of fright for his sanity. Sora smiled a little at them in a hopefully reassuring manner, then lowered his head.

"Besides, I'm more worried that you're gonna do something crazy, like mess with the pilot or flight attendants or something. That won't help me, as much as you'd like to think it would!" Sora whispered angrily, glaring at Roxas now.

The ghost sighed, putting a hand on his brow. "Okay, let's set a few things straight. One, we're not flying at night, so we aren't gonna even get the option of eating. Two, I would _never _prank the plane people! Honestly, brother, you should have more faith in me. And three, Kirk is William Shatner's character in a whole different series, if you're going to make Twilight Zone references, get it right."

Sora, crossing his arms, was about to remark on Roxas's "pranking" comment, was stopped as they had reached the gate. Shaking once more, he handed the flight attendant his boarding pass, reclaimed it, and began to walk down to the plane.

About fifteen minutes later, Sora was sitting, Roxas beside him as there was an empty seat, and gripping the arm rests as if they would fly away if he let them go. As the plane began rumbling to life, Sora took a quick breath of air, squeezing his eyes shut. Roxas, in turn, rolled his.

"Sora. Calm down. We haven't even left the terminal yet. Oh, wait, here we go. Finally..." He muttered as the plane slowly moved out and onto the launch ramp. Sora bit his lip to keep from screeching and tucked his head into his chest. Roxas sighed.

Two hours and endless encouragement later found the two walking out of the plane and into Hollow Bastion Regional Airport. Sora seemed to be about to kiss the carpeted ground, whilst Roxas could not stop talking about how amazing the flight was.

"I mean, did you _see_ out those windows? It was amazing! We were so high up, and all the tiny little houses, oh, that was awesome! And we were moving _so _fast, it was incredible! Well, you couldn't've known since you can't stick your head out the window like I did, but man, you missed out. Oh man, I can't wait for the semester to be over so we can get back on the plane..." Gushed Roxas, bouncing up and down in the air. Sora glared at the blond.

"You're crazy! That trip was awful. I'm just glad to be off. Oh, look!" Sora suddenly added, as a man with unnaturally spiky blond hair came into view, a sign saying "Sora Hikari" held in his hand. Smiling brightly at this greeting, the brothers raced towards this man.

The blond was wearing a long-sleeved purple turtle-neck sweater and a simple pair of jeans, a leather coat swung over his shoulder. As Sora approached the man, he looked down with a bored look in his eyes.

"You're Sora, then?" The man asked, and Sora, still excited to be on land, nodded.

"Yup! So, you're here to pick me up? That's so nice of you!" The boy exclaimed, grinning wildly. The blond chuckled at the other's exuberance.

"Odd to see someone your age excited about going to school. Nice to meet you, Sora. My name's Cloud, I'm a teacher at Radiant Garden. I'm taking you to the dorms. C'mon, let's get your bags." The blond- Cloud- said, getting straight to the point. Sora nodded, excited about, not what Cloud had assumed about school, but instead that there was another living human who did not treat him like dirt upon the first impression. It was a nice feeling.

A little while later, Sora, bags in hand, found himself following Cloud out of the airport and into the man's car.

"He looks kinda like you, Rox," Sora muttered to his brother as he climbed in the back seat, earning a snort from Roxas.

"Puh-lease," Roxas rolled his eyes and pretended to flip his hair. "I'm so much hotter than that guy."

Sora managed to turn his laugh into a cough when he felt Cloud's gaze on him. It was strange, not being able to talk to his brother in front of people, seeing as there had previously never been any people.

No one spoke for the first few minutes of the ride. Silence like this always made Sora uncomfortable, as he and Roxas often spent hours rambling on about nothing in particular. He was not used to people not talking. Cloud was either the same way, or realized how awkward Sora felt, as he soon began to speak.

"Your mother had to pull a lot of strings to get you into Radiant Garden this late in the year," He said casually, his eyes never leaving the road.

The twins stared at him for a moment.

"Really?" Sora asked, shocked. "I didn't know that."

Cloud nodded and the conversation died. Sora bit his lip and spoke a few minutes later.

He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask. Will everyone look at me like I'm normal like you do? What's it like to be ignored? How's it feel when living people smile at you instead of scowling? Is every conversation with the living this awkward?

Instead, he blinked a few times and asked, "What's the school like?"

"It's big. You'll be assigned someone in your grade to show you around for the first few days," Cloud said. "We don't get many transfer students. You'll have your own room. No leaving school grounds unless it's a weekend. You'll meet the principal when we arrive, and he'll give you a few basic rules to follow and you'll get your schedule."

"Oh, um, okay." Sora replied, looking at his lap. Cloud seemed to be the sort of straight-to-the-point kind of person, and Sora was not sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Sora," Roxas moaned a few minutes later. "I'm bored! Can't I pull a little prank? Just a little one?"

Sora shook his head discretely. He could almost hear the pout in his brother's voice.

"Fine. I'll just sit here. Being bored. With nothing to entertain me," Roxas sighed dramatically. "Hey, ask him if there are any ghosts at the school. Not saying that directly, of course." He added when Sora gave him a shocked look.

"Umm..." Sora began awkwardly, thinking of how to word the question, "so, um, are there any interesting stories about the school? Like, um, legends, or something?"

This earned him a strange look from Cloud, but Sora just smiled brightly.

"The school's only about twenty years old, so there hasn't really been much time for legends to arise," Cloud told him. "But I suppose everyone will try to scare you with stories of the basement being haunted."

"Haunted?" Sora and Roxas asked together.

Cloud nodded again. "Some students go down there every few years for a dare and spend the night. The teachers aren't supposed to know, but we aren't stupid, and it never really causes anyone harm. Every time this happens, they come back the next day with stories of floating books and moaning voices."

"...Creepy," Sora offered, intrigued.

Cloud snorted. "Yeah, sure."

And that was the end of the conversation. They spent the rest of the ride in silence, with Roxas in the back seat, listing all of the ghosts he knew of that might have died at a boarding school, which, surprisingly, was a lot.

Finally, they reached their destination.

"...Whoa," Sora said as he saw the school.

Cloud was right, it was big. Even taking into account the fact that the largest building Sora had ever seen the inside of was the airport in Hollow Bastion (Destiny Islands didn't really need to have large buildings, as the population was rather small), the school was still pretty large.

"Neverwas is bigger," Roxas said, unimpressed.

"What?" Sora asked his brother automatically.

"I didn't say anything," Cloud said, glancing at him.

Sora grinned sheepishly and grabbed his bags.

"Well, think about it Sora," Roxas said to his brother as they made their way up the steps and into the school. "Neverwas is the home of every ghost in the world. And at least, what, a sixteenth? Of people who die choose to become ghosts. Neverwas has to be huge. Though most do tend to leave right after... Ghost life isn't exactly the most ideal life to have."

Sora managed to nod his understanding without being obvious. Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother as the two followed the taller blonde through the hallways of the school.

"The school isn't that confusing," Cloud was saying. "Rooms one through ninety-nine are downstairs. 100 through 200 are on this floor, etcetera. The boys' and girls' dorms are on opposite sides of the building, and are paired together by grade. Everyone has a roommate. Except you, and a few other special students," he added as an afterthought. "We don't get many transfers."

He stopped suddenly, and Roxas and Sora mimicked him. Cloud offered Sora a slight smile.

"Principal's office," he explained. "You ready?"

"...No," Sora squeaked.

Roxas rolled his eyes yet again at his brother. "C'mon Sora, we're gonna practically live in the principal's office! Might as well get accustomed to the place we're gonna be spending most of this semester."

"Ready?" Cloud asked again.

"Yeah," Sora sighed, defeated, as he tossed a fearful glance at his brother, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Sora frowned as he saw Cloud attempt to hide an amused smile as he knocked on the door. A muffled "enter" had Sora stepping into the office, wondering where all the torture devices were hidden.

"DiZ, this is the new student, Sora Hikari. Sora, this is the principal, DiZ," Cloud said in a bored voice.

"...Nice to meet you, sir," Sora said politely.

"Likewise, Mr. Hikari. It is a great pleasure to be getting more students this late in the year." DiZ said, not turning around. Sora stared at his long, blond hair, blinking at the back of the man's head.

"Dude, he sounds like Christopher Lee!" Roxas commented, floating around to the other side of the man to get a look at his face. Before he could do so, the man dramatically swiveled his chair around, giving Sora a penetrating look as the man crossed his arms on his desk, staring at the boy. Sora had to refrain from jumping in his seat.

"Now then," the Christopher Lee- sounding man began, startling the boys, "your mother donated a generous amount to the school for your tuition, otherwise we would never let a student in halfway through the year. Consider yourself... special." He finished, smiling at Sora, who shuddered, trying to hide his fear.

He swiveled his chair around once more, this time bending over to open a desk. As he did this, Roxas floated over to stand next to his brother, looking a tad wild-eyed himself.

"He's more creepy than most of the ghosts who've been hanging out in Neverwas for centuries, and I didn't think that was possible. Don't get on this one's bad side, Sor'." He said, glancing at DiZ out of the corner of his eyes. Sora nodded hastily, and Cloud gave him a funny look. The brunet smiled at the tall blond, scratching the back of his neck. He was saved with having to come up with an excuse for his odd behavior with the man emerging from the drawer.

"Here we are, Sora Hikari, sophomore, West Dorms, room 206. Mr. Strife here will take you on a tour of the school after this, but just so you know, the West Dorms are for males, and East are for females. Freshman are on the first floor, sophomores on the second, etceteras. You, and very few others, are the only student without a roommate, who is always of the same grade as you. Now, here's your schedule," DiZ finished, handing Sora a piece of paper, which the boy grabbed with a shaking hand. DiZ smiled that creepy smile as he folded his arms on top of his desk.

"Welcome to Radiant Garden, Mr. Hikari. I'm sure you'll have a very enriching experience here."

As he finished, Sora jumped to his feet, hastily giving a low bow to the principal. "Thank you, sir."

"Okay, let's go," Cloud interrupted, standing and speaking for the first time since they had entered. As he left the room, Sora quickly followed, but not before taking one last glance at DiZ, who was smiling and waving happily. Shuddering once more, Sora shut the door behind him, Roxas zooming along.

"Let's follow your class route first, okay? I'll point out more stuff along the way." Cloud said, walking along the tiled floors at a brisk pace. Sora looked down at the paper at his classes for the first time.

**Art: **Lexaeus **Rm. **102

**Latin:** Boulder, G (1) **Rm. **315

**Creative Writing:** Strife, C **Rm. **173

**World History: **Leonhart, S **Rm. **297

**Lunch**

**Chemistry: **Vexen** Rm. **519

**Geometry: **Valentine, V **Rm. **455

**Physical Education: **Highwind, C **Rm. **200

**-Guidance Counselor: **Xemnas

Looking up after he finished trying to memorize his schedule, he noticed Cloud reading it over his shoulder, grinning to himself.

"You've got some pretty good teachers there, Sora. Not counting myself, whom you also have. Moving on, let's begin with art."

The two walked down a nearby staircase and headed for the left hallway, Cloud talking all the while.

"All the English and art classes are on the first floor, the english classes on the left, the art on the right. Oh, also the only staircase heading down to the basement is over by your art room, actually. Try not to go down there..." He warned, though somewhat half-heartedly. Sora and Roxas shared a smirk.

Reaching room 102, the glanced in the window, seeing the usual art supplies and tables set up.

"Lexaeus is a pretty good teacher," Cloud explained, leading them away from the room. "Very quiet, great artist."

"Why doesn't he have a first name initial?" Sora asked, looking down at the paper once more. Cloud shrugged.

"Well, Lexaeus is his first name, but besides that, I'm not too sure, to be honest. A few of the teachers choose not to reveal their surnames to the students, for private reasons. Actually," Cloud added, glancing at the schedule once more, "none of your teachers ask the students to call them by their surnames. As in, during class, you may call me Mr. Strife, like the sheet says, but I prefer Cloud." The man explained as they walked up two flights of stairs.

"So, what are my other teachers' first names?" He asked, but Cloud shook his head.

"You'll find out in class. Anyway, the third floor are all the language, drama, and business classes. They are mostly spread out along the floor. Now, you have Latin, then?" Sora nodded. "Excellent choice, it's a wonderful language to know, despite it not being spoken commonly anymore. I've also heard very good things about the teacher."

They briefly looked in the room, which had many posters of Italy and Greece. Taking a step back, the man looked at Sora before moving on.

"Next is my class, it's also on the first floor, but we can move along to the class after that, since it's only one floor down. You can explore the first floor later, if you want." Cloud explained as they went down one flight of stairs. Roxas, who had been oddly silent as he examined the school's interior turned his gaze at their guide.

"He looks a little anxious, doesn't he? I wonder what's up?" The ghost commented, staring at the blond's face. Sora looked at the man as well, frowning at how the man's blue eyes were darting a little.

When Cloud stopped again outside a classroom, Sora had to refrain from running into him.

"All the history classes and the indoor gyms, not including the pool and blitzball tank are on the second floor. All the offices and the library are also on this floor, excluding the principals office, which is on the first. This is your history classroom." He finished, looking inside the window. Sora too peered in, seeing the maps and pictures, but no human life. His ears perked up as he heard Cloud give a quiet sigh.

"Let's move along."

"No sign of ghosts, Sora." Roxas told his brother as they went down the steps again. Sora looked at his brother with a questioning glance as Cloud explained that the lunchroom, also on the first floor, took up a huge part of the building, since all four grades ate together in one big lunch. Roxas shrugged.

"What? You can't expect me to just float around here, listening to some boring tour. We can wing it if we get lost. And we should head down to the basement after you get your dorm." He explained, causing Sora to frown, upset at knowing they would break the rules so early in the year.

"...fifth floor. Got that, Sora?" Cloud was saying as they walked up a few more flights of stairs.

Sora blinked, looking up at Cloud. "S-sorry, what was that?" He stuttered out, causing Roxas to laugh.

"I said, all the science classes are on the fifth floor. Are you feeling alright?" Cloud asked, looking a little concerned. Sora gave a bright smile.

"I'm fine! I was just... er... distracted with all the sights. I'll pay attention, sorry." He added nervously.

They reached the top of the many flights of stairs with much panting on Sora's part. Cloud led them to a little ways down one of the hallways and stopped outside another classroom.

"In here you have Chemistry with Vexen. He should be... interesting." The man trailed off, staring into the door's window. Sora got onto his tiptoes to stare in as well, while Roxas went across the hall to one of the windows overlooking the school grounds.

"Whoa, Sora, you gotta see this! It's so huge!" He said in amazement, and Sora turned around, taking a couple leaps to the window. Outside was the side grounds, flawless green grass with a few large stones and trees, but you could also see the city in the distance. Sora looked at the buildings with wide eyes; it was the largest city he had ever seen.

"That's Hollow Bastion," Cloud said, coming to stand beside the awe-struck boy. "You're allowed to go there on weekends, and weekends only, and you have to be back here before eleven at night. Visiting the city is a privilege, and your rights to go there can be revoked if we find you breaking any rules." He explained gravely. Sora nodded, nervous, but Roxas only shrugged.

"We'll just make sure to not get caught, then." The ghost said with a smirk, and Sora hastily grinned back. Cloud was already heading down the steps, and Sora ran after him.

"All the math classes are on the fourth floor, along with most of the computer labs and a few other electives. You have Mr. Valentine for geometry, correct?" He asked, and Sora nodded as they reached the classroom. Cloud smirked.

"You'll have fun with him. He's actually a pretty good friend of mine. And he has a student teacher for this semester for geometry, I believe. You'll like her, she's a friend of mine as well. Great personality, if not a bit too rambunctious at times. What's next, again? Oh, gym with Cid."

The blond led them to the end of a second floor hallway, and they stopped outside a door leading into another hall, although it looked very short.

"One of the gyms is down this hallway, the other is down the opposite one. You'll have Cid... I mean, Mr. Highwind, for gym in here. He's been around forever. I had him when I went here. Cid also is a great engineering teacher. I wonder if he's still trying to build a rocket? Crazy old man..." Cloud trailed off, turning around. Sora hastily ran after.

"You should also know that there are five counselor's for the school, and students are divided up randomly for each one. Who was yours, again?" Cloud asked as they walked, and Sora checked the sheet clutched in his hand.

"Xemnas," he read off, and a brow went up as the english teacher shuddered.

"Oo, nasty choice. Well, hopefully you won't have any problems that need counseling." He said, shaking his head. Sora immediately grew nervous, while Roxas frowned with concern.

"W-why, what's wrong with him?"

"Hopefully you won't have to find out." Cloud said with a stern look in Sora's direction, and that was the end of that conversation.

A little while later, they had reached the West Dorms, and outside the building, Cloud stopped.

"There won't be many kids in here, since the three-day weekend isn't over until tomorrow and most of the kids are in the city, but you're up one floor. You can just follow the room numbers. Oh," he added, fishing for something in his pockets. His hand emerged a few moments later with a slip of paper, which he handed to Sora.

"You'll have a guide for your first week as well. Her name is Olette Miyura, and she's in a few of your classes. Monday morning wait outside the dorm building, and she'll find you to show you around. Uh... I'll see you around, I guess." He concluded, holding a hand up in farewell. Sora rose his arm and waved as the man smirked, walking back to the main building.

"That was fun. And boring. But necessary, I guess." Roxas commented, floating around to the front of his brother. Sora shrugged.

"I liked Cloud, he was nice. And apparently none of our teachers suck, which is good." He added, looking back at his schedule. Roxas shrugged.

"Yeah, but he has to be nice about the other teachers, since he is one. And he could be a nice guy out of class, but during it he's a prick." The ghost said, trying to scrutinize the man who had just turned a corner and gone out of sight.

"And what's with the guide? We'd be fine, we don't need anyone to "show us the ropes" or whatever. Come on, we're not two. Sheesh."

"Roxas, don't be so negative. I'm sure she'll be plenty helpful." Sora added, ever the optimist. "Let's go in, then."

**-Roxas-**

Roxas couldn't help but zone out as they made their way through the building, searching for Sora's room. Something felt a little weird about this place. It wasn't anything he could pinpoint, however, but the feeling seemed to become more pronounced as he and his brother drew closer to their room. It felt a little like when he sensed a ghost near, but vastly different, though that explanation made no sense to the ghost boy.

It was making him nervous, and he was just about to tell Sora about it when they rounded a corner and his brother bumped into a rather pretty blond girl. Instead of focusing her eyes on Sora, who was laughing embarrassedly, and offering a hand to help her up, her blue eyes traveled up towards Roxas. There was a shocked expression on her face that was instantly replaced with a blank look. Roxas clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes.

_Seer... _He thought hatefully.

Later, when Sora was asleep, he would try and break down all the emotions he felt in the split second before his instincts took over and he threw up a shield around himself. There was hate, anger, fear, distrust, a powerful urge to run away and/or break something, along with several more emotions he would never be able to name nor describe.

The amount of intensity behind these feelings decreased as he threw up his shield, comforted by the fact that Seers couldn't see or sense his presence any longer (the shield didn't work on Sora, and Roxas never questioned this; they were brothers, and, as such, were not meant to hide from each other.)

_Was I just about to growl at her?_ Roxas wondered to himself as he began to glance worriedly at his brother.

Sora, oblivious as ever, grinned when the girl smiled shyly and took his hand. He helped her up and she laughed nervously.

"I didn't know that girls could be over here," Sora commented, not letting them fall into an uncomfortable silence. A light blush crept onto the girl's face.

"We can't," she smiled innocently and Sora laughed. "But I really needed to talk to my friend."

"Well, your secret's safe with me," Sora promised, and Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother.

"I'm Namine," the petite girl introduced herself. "And, you are? I don't think I've seen you around."

"I'm Sora. I'm new here."

"Oh!" Namine seemed surprised. "So you're the transfer. It's nice to meet you."

Sora nodded holding up his hand in a greeting wave. As he smiled, Roxas noticed the girl's eyes become narrowed as she carefully studied the boy. She glanced all around him once more, then bit her lip, seemingly nervous about something. Roxas smirked to himself, glad for his discomfort, whatever the reason.

After a moment of lip chewing and Sora being oblivious to this all, Namine opened her mouth. "I know this is sort of abrupt, and you might think I'm crazy, but can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" Sora replied cheerfully, trying to make her more comfortable. Roxas held back a glare at his brother for being so kind to this person.

_No. No you cannot ask my brother a question. Leave now and you won't get hurt. _Roxas had never been good at controlling his emotions. Whenever he felt threatened by anything he would take care of it by scaring it off. However, he didn't think his brother would appreciate it if he threw the girl's book at her for no apparent reason.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" The girl asked pleasantly.

Roxas frowned as he noticed Sora's eyes widen a bit and his face become a shade or two lighter. He sighed. His brother really wasn't good under pressure.

"Say no, stupid," Roxas rolled his eyes and pretended to hit himself on the forehead.

"Erm... not really," Sora smiled shakily. "Why?"

Namine held up the book she was holding. _Mysteries Of The Afterlife_. Roxas blinked a few times before narrowing his eyes suspiciously. That was rather... convenient.

"I read a lot," Namine explained. "This month it's ghosts. Have you heard the stories yet? About the basement?"

"I've heard a bit," Sora said. "Maybe you can tell me about it later? I need to find my room now."

"Sure," she said nicely. Roxas bit back a snarl as he realized she meant it. "I'll see you around."

And then she was gone, and Roxas was following Sora through the halls of this new school. Sora was humming softly while Roxas was left to stew in his own thoughts about his odd reaction towards the Seer. He'd heard stories from the ghosts in Neverwas-or rather, he'd heard stories from Demyx and Zexion, who'd heard stories from the ghosts in Neverwas. Most ghosts tended to have a strong, instant dislike of him, and often times the feeling was mutual.

The stories he'd heard claimed that ghosts had a violent reaction upon meeting up with a Seer. And Seers often had a violent reaction upon seeing a ghost. Zexion had told him that Seers were meant to get rid of ghosts, and that, had ghosts wanted to leave, they wouldn't be at Neverwas in the first place.

Roxas had refused to listen to the stories after he heard them the first time (he'd been around nine, if he remembered correctly), because Sora was a Seer, and Roxas certainly didn't hate him and was quite positive that Sora felt the same. So he'd disregarded it as untrue and had gone off to prank Xigbar, who certainly wouldn't appreciate it.

As he got lost in his thoughts, he noticed in the back of his mind that Sora had reached their room and was unpacking his bags. He didn't notice his brother giving him an odd look, nor the hand that was waved in front of his face and stuck through his arm. He did, however, hear the word prank.

"What?" He blinked himself out of his thoughts and stared at his brother, who glared at him sulkily.

"You're planning a prank!" Sora accused.

"I am not!" Roxas denied, despite the accusation being true.

"You're planning a prank and you aren't telling me about it!" Sora pouted.

Roxas felt a small smile forming on his face. "Let me work out some of the details and then I'll tell you about it. It's going to require a lot of acting on your part though."

"Oh," Sora said happily. "One of those pranks."

"Yeah," Roxas said gleefully. "Now, you done unpacking?" Sora nodded. "Great. Let's go explore the basement."

His brother frowned, and Roxas was pretty sure he didn't want to break the rules when the semester hadn't even started.

"C'mon, you can make friends with them," Roxas coaxed, smiling when Sora bit his lip and nodded.

"You know, we never really had a chance to look around the room," Sora added, staring back at the closed door as they made their way down the hall. Roxas sighed, shaking his head at his brother as he continued to float towards the stairs. "We can look closer later, now let's go!"

Sora was rather paranoid about being caught, and Roxas found himself looking around corners and making sure that no one was coming before Sora would keep moving. It took them about twenty minutes for what should have been a three minute walk. Neither of them complained, however, as it made the journey all the more suspenseful. When they finally reached the door, Roxas glanced knowingly at his brother.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

The door slowly creaked open, much to the twins' delight, and they slowly made their way down the stairs, closing the door behind them. Sora didn't bother looking for a light switch, as Roxas glowed bright enough in the pitch black darkness. The stairs creaked and moaned as Sora slowly walked down them, scowling as he walked into multiple cobwebs.

"I need to take a long shower after this," He muttered, making a face as Roxas spared a laugh at him.

"I don't sense any ghosts," Roxas whispered. "But that might just be because it has a shield up."

"Shield?" Sora questioned softly, his eyes scanning the basement as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'll tell you later," Roxas whispered back, noticing a small frown marring his brother's face. "This is kind of disappointing."

Roxas grinned as he heard his brother stifle a laugh. It was true, though. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. The basement was dark, smelly, and full of cobwebs and dusty cardboard boxes. It looked as though there was at least one other room, but Roxas had a feeling it would look the same. There wasn't anything even remotely scary around.

"Riku, are you back already?"

Roxas probably would have fallen over, had he been alive. As it was, his jaw merely dropped and his eyes widened. He knew that voice. He was so shocked he barely realized that his brother had squeaked and lost his footing, managing to fall backwards.

"Hey! You aren't Riku!" Another familiar voice accused his brother. "You aren't even Axel! Who are you? I know you're a Seer!"

"He looks kind of like Roxas," the first voice commented casually.

That was when Roxas realized that he must still have his shield up. Apparently it worked on ghosts as well. He vaguely realized that Sora was getting over his surprise and was about to say something (probably 'hi! I'm Sora! Wanna be friends?' or something amongst those lines, Roxas figured) when the blond dropped his shield. He smirked triumphantly at the utterly shocked faces of his fellow ghosts. It was not often that you could shock a ghost.

"Hey Demyx, Zexion. Miss me?"

--

(1) Not an actual Kingdom Hearts character, but a tribute to our own Latin teacher, who's the greatest teacher ever, by the way. Also, sorry about going with the cliche of having Sora's last name be Hikari. Couldn't think of anything else good enough. .


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's Notes: **Outkast Angel: Did you know that Elvis had a pet monkey named Scatter?

NiffStral: Why are you always so random?

Outkast Angel: Well _someone _has to be entertaining around here.

NiffStral: -splutter- Hey! My kinda entertaining is much more entertaining than you entertaining.

Outkast Angel: Uh-huh. _Sure_ it is.

NiffStral: So... Now that the odd beginning conversation is out of the way, there's a new chapter! This is a pretty... interesting chapter. Mostly 'cause of Sora's dream sequence later on...

Outkast Angel: ... -bursts out laughing-

NiffStral: Yeah. We wrote it after watching the episode Restless of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so... Yeah. If you've seen it, you probably have a feeling of how it's gonna work.

Outkast Angel: -snicker- ANYways... We own nothing.

NiffStral: ...That's an awful disclaimer.

Outkast Angel: ...At least I said it. I could have gone on a rant about pink elephants and evil penguins, you know.

NiffStral: What I wanted to say before you ruined the disclaimer and once more attempted to change the subject, lengthening the already way too long author's note, was that in this chapter, other than Kingdom Hearts (that INCLUDES actual game references) stuff, we reference...Nine books/TV shows/etc. in the outside world. Two references are referenced twice, 'cause we're THAT awesome. Eleven in all, I s'pose. I won't name them here, in case you want to be surprised.

Outkast Angel: Blah, blah, blah.

NiffStral: The name Kujiko does not belong to us either! It's the name of one of my good bud **AlexYoshida**'s cats. Pictures can be found at her deviantart page, if you wanna see. She also writes AMAZING Naruto fanfiction, and draws some kick-ass SasuNaru doujinshi. So, if you like that pairing, check out her stuff!

Outkast Angel: SO! Whoever can give us the names of everything we referenced can have...an online plushie of their choice! And they're pen name in the next chapter So, I think that's about it. Enjoy the chapter and make Bobert happy!

NiffStral: Oh, one more thing. See, school for us is starting in two days, so the next chapter will most likely take longer to come out. Sorry! Our procrastination knows no bounds...

**-CHAPTER THREE-**

"Holy crap!" Demyx shouted, eyes widening. Roxas kept his smirk, glad he got a reaction. He was a little disappointed with Zexion's still emotionless expression, though he did see one silvery eyebrow raise half a millimeter. Kind of. That was good enough for Roxas.

Sora, on the other hand, looked as shocked and excited as Demyx. "Oh my god, _you're _Demyx and Zexion? No way! I can't believe I actually get to meet you guys! Oh man, this is so cool!" The human gushed, bouncing up and down excitedly. Roxas noticed Zexion observing his brother with an amused look- well, as amused an expression as the quiet ghost could muster.

"You were right, Roxas. He does act like Demyx." The ghost said, and for a minute he and Roxas watched Demyx and Sora bounce around in unison. Roxas held back a laugh, and turned to Zexion, as the other two did not seem like they would be in an explaining mood for a little while.

"So, why are you guys here, and not in Neverwas? I thought you only hung out there, and never came to the living world." The boy asked, while the others slowed down their bouncing. Demyx, with a huge smile, answered.

"Oh, we come down here all the time to talk to some friends! It's surprisingly nice here at RG, and they have this one guy who plays the sitar almost as well as I did when I was alive. It's fun to listen to. Zexy tags along for the company, otherwise he'd probably spend all his time in Neverwas. Right, Zexy?" The ghost replied, and the twins nodded in understanding, while Zexion spared a half-glare at the other.

Widening his eyes as he took in the whole answer, Roxas began to speak, but was cut off by his brother.

"Wait, what's a sitar?" Sora asked innocently, and as Demyx smiled almost as wide as Sora on a happy occasion, Zexion and Roxas simultaneously slapped a hand to their face, the latter groaning. Demyx took a huge breath before explaining.

"It's only the most amazingly wonderful instrument in the history of the universe! It's of Indian original, and plays kind of like a guitar except you prop it up vertically on your body and-"

Seeing how the conversation would not leave this topic for at least an hour, Roxas wisely cut in. "What do you mean, you talk to some friends down here? Do you mean that Seer girl?" He asked, sparing a side-long glance at Sora as he did so.

The brunet widened his eyes as Roxas asked the question. "Wait, _Namine's _a Seer? Wha...But... How... Why... How do you know? How didn't _I _know?" Sora spluttered out, shocked. Roxas turned to the older ghosts, ignoring his brother for the moment, awaiting an answer.

Demyx immediately grew serious as he and Zexion shared a glance.

"You didn't know?" Demyx asked.

"Well _Roxas_ did, apparently," Sora pouted at his brother's betrayal.

"I realized it when I saw her, Sora," Roxas explained. "It's part of the prank. With Demy and Zexy-"

"Don't call me that," Zexion interrupted, but sounded as though he was only saying by force of habit.

"-here, it makes this whole thing easier," Roxas continued as though Zexion hadn't spoken. "Give me a bit more time Sor, I'm working on it."

As he spoke, Sora's pout slowly receded and he eventually nodded. Demyx, however, seemed nervous as he bit his lip and widened his eyes.

"Prank?" He squeaked worriedly. "Roxas, did you say prank? Oh man, _please _tell me that me and Zexy aren't the victims. Please. My pride still hasn't recovered from last time."

"Don't worry Demy," Roxas waved his worries away. "You aren't the victims of this one. Actually, you guys are going to help it along. But you said you talked to _friends_."

"Plural," Sora chimed in happily.

"As in, more than one," Roxas continued.

Demyx laughed nervously. "Well, umm... See... What had happened was-"

"There's three of them here, not including your brother," Zexion cut in, raising an eyebrow at Demyx's surprised look. "What? Your pride wasn't the only one that was wounded by The Demon's last prank."

"The Demon?" Sora snorted and grinned at his brother.

"Don't judge us!" Demyx exclaimed cheerfully. "You're his brother! You're kept safe from his war path! He leaves destruction in his wake!"

Roxas stared at him in disbelief. "All I did was steal Xiggy's eye-patch."

"Exactly!" Demyx flailed his arms. "Do you have _any _idea what happened to us?"

"Not important," Roxas said, ignoring Sora's grin and Demyx pout. "Tell us about the Seers."

"Namine Enpitsu, freshmen," Zexion said in a monotone.

"Then there's Riku Kuwairo and Axel Okibi!" Demyx chimed in, a grin once again on his face. "They're both juniors. Riku's got this freaky silvery hair and Axel's got bright red spiky hair. Anyways, they're all really nice, but Namine doesn't come down here very much, but I don't really know why. Riku says it's because she's really shy, but I think it's 'cause she's afraid of ghosts. Lots of Seers are, and that's why they don't like them, but I guess it's okay, 'cause lots of ghosts are afraid of Seers, too. I guess it's just how it goes, but I never really understood, 'cause me and Zexy never had any problems with Seers, and no Seers ever had any problems with us. But _anyways_-"

"Dem." Roxas could tell that Zexion was hiding a smile as he interrupted the excitable blond. It was all that Zexion needed to say, however, to get Demyx to close his mouth and grin sheepishly.

"Namine, Riku, Axel." Roxas tested the names out. "They aren't... dangerous, or anything, are they?"

"No," Zexion seemed amused at the thought. "Not really. They're... nice. A bit excitable, but nice."

"Excitable how?" Sora asked. Roxas spared a slightly surprised look at his brother, silently wondering how he'd managed to keep quiet for so long. As if reading his mind, Sora flashed a careless smile his way and shrugged. Roxas rolled his eyes at his twin, who huffed.

"If you two are done conversing," Zexion interrupted quietly. He was about to go on but Demyx cut in with a bright, slightly awed smile.

"How'd you guys do that?" He asked. "What'd you guys say?"

Sora seemed ecstatic to have someone ask about the twins' way of silent communication.

"Well, Rox asked why I was being quiet," the brunet was almost glowing as bright as the ghosts, he was so happy.

"Sora said he was just trying to pay attention," Roxas said in a bored voice, but knew that his brother could see the smile in his eyes.

"Then Roxas called me a dork," Sora huffed again.

"And Sora said 'damn right'," Roxas felt his face split into a grin as his brother let out an indignant noise and pouted at him.

"I did not!" He said. "I would throw something at you, but I wanna keep my shoes on."

"You guys are great," Demyx told Sora, laughing. "You're gonna fit right in here."

"Really?" Sora was literally bouncing as he heard this. "You think so?"

"Yes," Zexion cut it, sparing a small smile at Sora, nearly causing Roxas to panic.

"We can introduce you to Riku and Axel if you want! I'm sure they'd li-"

"And that's my cue to cut in," Roxas said, a slow smirk finding its way onto his face. "You ready to hear about the prank now, Sora? I think we've got enough to work with now."

Sora nodded his approval and Zexion and Demyx shared an uneasy look before Zexion was expressionless and Demyx was excited yet again.

"Well," Roxas began slowly. "A lot of this depends on you, Sor. That Namine girl saw me earlier, just for about a second before I threw up a shield. No doubt she's gonna tell the other Seers about the ghost that's following you. And right now, they don't know that you're a Seer. And we're gonna keep it that way."

Demyx and Zexion were frowning, not really grasping the point of this prank. Sora, however, had widened his eyes and had a slow smile creeping onto his face.

"You want to convince them that you're out to kill me!" He exclaimed, already becoming excited at the prospect.

"Well, not _kill_ exactly." Roxas was scowling at the idea. "But yeah, you get the point."

"Well, I'm not really a good actor- well, maybe I am," Sora corrected himself when Roxas gave him a Look. "So, I think I can handle it, but we'll need to-"

"Why?' Zexion suddenly said, cutting Sora off. "Why are you planning on pranking them? We know you, Roxas, you pull stunts like this when you are trying to deal with a situation that unnerves you. It's your way of coping. What about Namine makes you want to do this?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes slightly, but that was the only sign of anger or discomfort from the blond ghost. And when he spoke, he spoke to Sora, not Zexion.

"I got a bad feeling when I saw her today," He told his brother softly. "I'm pretty sure she isn't... _bad, _I suppose, but still. We'll tell them eventually, but I want to get to know them first. And c'mon," a smile flashed across his face, "you know it sounds like fun."

He left what he really wanted to say unspoken, but by the slight widening of his eyes and the soft, gentle smile that played on his face, Roxas knew that his brother had gotten the message.

_I just want to make sure you don't get hurt._

About three hours later, Sora and Roxas had said their goodbyes to the two ghosts and were headed back up to their dorm, avoiding any possible confrontations on the way there, which Sora, Roxas could tell, was very worried about. As Roxas had predicted, Sora hit it off with the two right away, especially Demyx, considering the two had similar personalities. They had gotten to know each other better, and planned out Roxas's large-scale prank on the other Seers. Once the ghosts had returned to Neverwas for the rest of the night, as they only came every so often to talk with the three Seers, the twins took their leave, promising to come back to visit often.

As Sora continued to glance around nervously as they crossed the outdoor path to the West Dorms, Roxas was whistling a perky tune, already in high spirits. Sora could tell he was all too excited to come across the Seers again.

"Hey, do you think our room is near the guy Seers?" Roxas asked Sora, who jumped at the noise. After glaring at his brother, the brunet shrugged.

"I dunno, but probably not. It's a really big building, and remember? They're juniors, so they're a floor above us."

"Oh yeah..." Roxas replied in a slightly dejected manner, before grinning again. "Well, there's still a high chance we'll run into them." He added, acting very Sora-like in his optimistic manner. Too bad Sora did not entirely share his enthusiasm.

Frowning as he opened the door to the building, Sora turned to his brother once they were inside. "I'm all for pranking these people because you're pranks are really fun most of the time," he began pausing to roll his eyes as he noticed Roxas about to say that his pranks were fun all the time, but continued on. "But maybe we shouldn't torture these people so much yet. I mean, Namine seems really, really nice, and we haven't even met Axel or Riku! Why the prejudice?"

Roxas sighed, his whole body drooping. To be honest, he was not entirely sure why he did not like the Seer, but from the moment he saw her, he felt a strange sense of hate. It was probably because of what Demyx and Zexion had said, about ghosts not liking Seers naturally. He shrugged, floating on up the stairs.

"I just don't trust her, is all. Come on, Sora. Just go with me for this one! This is gonna be really fun, trust me. Please?" He turned from his position on the top of the stairs to stare at his brother with wide, pleading eyes. Sora sighed, knowing he could never refuse his brother after all he had done for him.

"Okay, okay. But nothing too mean!"

"I promise." Roxas agreed, looking as if he had been promised a big treat.

"Oh, hey," Sora began, recalling something, "we can check out the room now! I hardly even remember what it looked like, to be honest." He added, laughing sheepishly. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"We were just here a few hours ago, Sora, how can you not remember what it looked like? Anyway, I'm sure it's not that great. Come on, let's hurry up."

Turning the corner after reaching the top of the stairs, the two headed down to the end of the hallway. Looking up at the door to their left, Sora pulled out a room key Cloud had given him earlier. Putting it in the lock, Sora turned the knob and entered the room.

"This room is awesome!" Roxas said from inside, having flown in before Sora had a chance to push the door open. As his brother came rushing in, the ghost hovered in the middle of the main room.

On the side opposite the door was a large window with a spectacular view of Hollow Bastion from a distance, the sun's setting casting an orange-ish glow across the city. Up against the adjacent wall was a full sized bed, black and red sheets across it with a very fluffy looking comforter on top. Across from the bed was a very large dresser with a TV set on top (a gift from their mother), and beside that was an open closet full of the school's uniform outfits. Next to the bed was a large, empty desk with drawers underneath, and near that was an empty bookcase. Just outside that was a mini-fridge for storing spare food. Sora's duffle bag, mostly unpacked but still with various items and a few clothes along with his toiletries bag, was laying in the middle of the floor.

"Woah," Sora breathed, eyes widening in surprise.

"Well, I could get used to this," Roxas said, floating towards the window and observing the room with a critical eye. "All this space, and it's just me and you. I was really expecting you to have a roommate."

"Ugh," Sora groaned, collapsing on the bed. "That would have been horrible. We'd never be able to talk. Guess we lucked out, huh?"

"Yeah," Roxas agreed distractedly. Sora turned his head and frowned at him.

"What now?" He asked curiously.

"Huh?" Roxas blinked, then smiled at his brother. "Nothing. I was just thinking about my shields."

"What about them?"

"Just wondering what I was going to use tomorrow," Roxas said. "I think I don't really want them to see me quite yet."

"But Nami-"

"She only saw me for a second." Roxas shrugged "I doubt she got a good look at me, seeing as your big head was in the way."

Sora made a face at him. Roxas stuck out his tongue.

"So I was thinking of just... going half way, I guess. We want them to know that I'm there, but I don't want them to see me clearly. So I'm going to use the shadow shield thing that Zexion told me about." Roxas explained, watching Sora frown in confusion as he spoke.

"Shadow shield thing?" He questioned.

"Uh, yeah," Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother and tossed a pillow at his head. "While you and Demy were bouncing around like idiots and talking about cats, Zexion and me were talking about shields. You should pay attention more, bro."

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed indignantly, pouting. "The cat subject was interesting. How come you never told me about Kujiko? I didn't know animals could become ghosts!"

"Well, for one, I thought she didn't exist," Roxas said. "And they normally don't. I think Kujiko is the only one."

Sora rolled his eyes at his brother and put his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, figuring that his brother would wake him up if he accidentally dozed off. He fell asleep listening to his brother's soft voice as he talked about Neverwas, and the things they would do if Sora ever managed to get there.

xxxx

_Sora's eyes slowly slid open. He blinked a few times. Why was his ceiling blue? The ceiling wasn't supposed to be blue. Did he paint his room and forget about it? Was that even allowed at Radiant Garden? What if he got in trouble?_

_"Hah. Like I'd let you get in trouble, So-ra," Roxas voice sounded from across the room and Sora rolled onto his side to grin at his very much alive twin brother._

_"I know, Rocks-ass," Sora yawned and stood up._

_"Are you ready?" Roxas asked, leaping across the room and putting his brother into a headlock._

_"Ready for what?"_

_-static-_

_Sora blinked, confused, as he looked around. He could have sworn he'd been in his room a moment ago. Wasn't he supposed to be at Radiant Garden? Why was he back on the Island?_

_"This is a fertile land, and we will thrive."_

_Sora shook his head and rubbed his eyes, turning to his brother, who was sitting on the ground, cross-legged, playing with a couple toys._

_"Are those chocobo plushies?" Sora asked his brother._

_"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land," Roxas made one of the plushies say to the other._

_"I think we should call it... your grave!" Roxas made the other plushie said in a lower voice._

_"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" The first plushie moaned, before the other attacked him._

_"Ha HA!" The plushie declared. "Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!"_

_Sora scowled at being ignored and snatched the plushies from his hands. Roxas looked up at him with a betrayed look on his face._

_"Popcorn?!" He demanded in an angry voice._

_"HI SORA!"_

_Sora winced and swung around, looking for the person who'd yelled directly into his ear. "Selphie? What are you doing here?" Stupid question. She lived here, obviously._

_"Gettin' ready for the wedding," Selphie shrugged, idly rubbing her hand, then grinned brightly at something behind him. Sora turned around to see what it was._

_"Hey Sora. Wow, Selph, how'd you hurt your hand? Fall down again?" Tidus asked teasingly._

_"No, Tidus. I punched a werewolf in the face." Selphie seemed rather proud of this statement, and Sora suddenly noticed her right hand was wrapped in bandages._

_Blinking, he looked around, trying to take in his surroundings. Had it always been this hard to see? Everything seemed so... blurry. Maybe he needed glasses. He wouldn't mind glasses, he didn't think. Maybe they would make him look smart._

_He was suddenly hit by a rather hard object and looked around to see what it was, but only saw Roxas braiding Tidus' hair, and Selphie being fitted into a tux by Wakka and Lulu. He felt rather left out..._

_-static-_

_Roxas was dressed strange. Sora stared at him. He was wearing a long black jacket. And shoes. Sora couldn't see the rest of his outfit, as the jacket was zipped up. In his hands were two odd key-shaped swords. Were they swords? They kind of looked like it, but who in their right mind would make a sword in the shape of a key?_

_"Sora! What are you DOING?" Roxas demanded. "Summon your keyblade! The Heartless are almost here! Donald and Goofy are waiting!"_

_"What?" Sora asked blankly. "What's a keyblade? And aren't Donald and Goofy, um, Disney characters?"_

_"SORA!" Roxas bellowed, truly angry. "There's no time! GO!"_

_And then Roxas pushed him, and he was falling, falling, falling..._

_-static-_

_"Where am I?" Sora muttered to himself, rubbing his head. Standing up, he looked over the large hill to see the sun setting over an ocean, but with large buildings nearby. He heard a train rumble in the distance._

_"WOO!"_

_"ROXAS?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"_

_"I've always wanted to try this!"_

_Roxas was skateboarding down a clock tower. Eating a blue ice cream bar. He seemed to be enjoying himself._

_"YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!" Sora shrieked._

_"God, Sora. Don't be such a hardass." Sora spun around, away from his brother, to see Ella standing a bit away from him, her arms crossed and her lips pursed. "He's just trying to have a bit of fun, dipshit. Stop holding him back."_

_"Ella? When did you start talking like that?"_

_"You don't notice much about me, do you Sora? Damn, you're so oblivious!" Ella glared at him, disappointment in her eyes. Sora felt himself flinch away from her glare._

_"Speaking of which, when did you get a mustache?"_

_Ella seemed like she was about to answer, but then she wasn't there anymore, and Kairi floated by, transparent._

_"When did you become a ghost, Kai?" Sora asked curiously, staring at his brother, who was doing tricks on his skateboard a few feet away from him._

_"I was blowdrying my hair, and then the toaster oven fell into the sink! It was so much fun, Sora!" Kairi squealed, then began flailing her arms around as she floated upwards and didn't come down. "How do you control this thing?!" She screamed down to Sora, who put his head in his hands, groaning._

"_I don't know, I can't help anyone with anything! I'm useless."_

_-static-_

"_Sora sir, you must wake up! It is of the greatest importance that you wake up soon!" A slightly squeaky voice called out in the distance, and Sora opened his eyes to see two large, golf ball sized eyes peering into his. Jumping to his feet, he stumbled, only for Roxas to grab his arm._

"_Don't worry, Sor'. I got your back, now matter the circumstance." He said reassuringly, and Sora grinned._

"_Thanks, Rox." He said, then felt a tugging at his leg. He looked down to see a creature with large, bat-like ears, five pairs of socks on it's feet and a large assortment of oddly shaped hats on its head._

"_Dobby! Oh, I cried so much when you died!" Sora exclaimed, going to his knees to hug the house-elf. Dobby hugged him back, reaching up to pat his shoulder in a comforting manner._

"_Thank you very much Sora sir, but there are more important matters at hand." He said, backing up, Sora stood, question in his eyes._

"_What's wrong? Why do I need to wake up?" _

"_You must return Nessie to her home. It's of the highest importance that this task is completed." Dobby explained, and Sora looked at him with confused eyes._

"_But where is her home?" He asked, and Roxas perked up._

"_I think she lives in Scotland. All the great sea beasts live there, right?" _

"_For the last time, stop calling her that!" A new voice cried out, and Sora turned to see a man with an odd pair of goggles on his blond hair, wearing a long lab coat that wrapped around his entire body, white gloves covering his hands. _

_As the man walked towards them, Sora, frightened, turned to see Roxas and Dobby heading over to a figure in the distance._

"_Guys, help! You have to save me!" Sora cried out to them, but they shook their heads, and Roxas turned to his brother._

"_She's always watching, Sora, but she must be informed of certain things. Besides, Captain Hammer will save you."_

_Turning back, Sora saw the man in the lab coat being forcefully turned around by a new man with brown hair and a brown t-shirt with a yellow circle with a hammer inside. The two immediately began to argue._

"_Her name's too long, we can shorten it easily!" Captain Hammer yelled to his arch-nemesis, who glared back._

"_That's not her name, though! Quit calling her that!"_

"_Sora can decide, can't he? He's more than capable." _

_They both turned to Sora as a piano began to play an introduction tune in the background, and Sora shook his head furiously._

"_No way, I've already sung my share with Sebastian. I can't sing anymore." He told the two, and they shrugged, bursting into flame._

"_How remarkable." A wolf with tawny fur and golden eyes commented at the scene, before turning into a snowy owl and flying away into the moonlight, Roxas and Dobby gazing up at her retreating form. Sora blinked at the sight, shrugging._

_-static-_

_Sora looked around him, noticing he was in a large, and seemingly cylindrical room with no floor in sight. He looked down to see that other than the thin plank he was standing on, there was only a bright light below him._

"_This is so exciting!" Roxas shouted from a chair perched precariously on the plank behind Sora, eating popcorn. "The new car smell is pretty good, though I still like sea-salt way more."_

"_Sora," A voice called from in front, and Sora turned his head around to see Cloud, wrapped up in a black cloak that covered his chin. He held an unbelievably long, bandage-covered sword in one hand, and Sora gasped as he noticed it was covered in blood._

"_Wha...What did you do to my father? You killed him, didn't you! Don't deny it!" Sora accused, pointing a shaking finger at the blond. Cloud shook his head, chuckling._

"_No, Sora... I AM your father!" He shouted, throwing his free arm up into the sky._

"_But...That can't be! That's impossible!" Sora cried out, eyes going wide. Roxas leaned forward in anticipation from his seat behind his brother._

_Lowering his arms, Cloud shrugged and turned around, walking away, dragging his sword behind him. "You're probably right." _

_Roxas jumped from his seat, cheering wildly. Unfortunately, this caused the plank Sora was standing on to shake and slip, causing Sora to fall into the light._

_-static-_

_Sora breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that he was back in his room at Radiant Garden. Roxas was staring out the window, lost in thoughts. They were supposed to be here, right. And now that they were back, everything was alright. He could just go to classes and- was that a hole in the wall? He quickly moved over to investigate. His mouth dropped open as his mother's face appeared._

_"Mom?" Sora asked slowly. "Why are you living in the wall?"_

_She opened her mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut. Sora was confused._

_"It looks dirty," he told her. She glared. She looked like she was about to say something more, but Sora was distracted once again. He thought he saw a flash of silver from the corner of his eye. Turning, he frowned, as a short blonde girl came up to him instead, looking particularly angry._

_"You don't believe in ghosts!" Namine suddenly accused, clutching a drawing pad to her chest with one hand, a book on ghosts in the other. "Shun the non-believer! SHUN!"_

_"Girls aren't allowed in the boys' dorm!" Sora shot back, clenching his fists at his sides._

_"Swim away, Fugu Fish!" Namine said around her snorkle, which had appeared on her face after Sora blinked, and she was floating through the air as she did breast stroke. "Swim away!"_

_"Wait!" Sora yelled. "Why are you leaving!?" She was already gone, though. "I don't like being alone..." Sora muttered to himself sadly._

_"You aren't alone," Roxas told him sternly. "I'm here, aren't I? I've always been here. Don't you remember? I don't leave like the rest of them."_

_"You should, though," Sora told him glumly. "All I'm doing is holding you back. It's not like I'm worth all this. What do you stick around for, anyway?"_

_"Well, you sort of glued me to you, remember?" Roxas asked, trying to pull his arm away from his brother's. It was no use. "We're stuck together. Oh, and you have my chocobo plushies. I want them back."_

_Before Sora could respond, Demyx lightly leapt into Sora's room, strumming a sitar. Zexion, wearing a cowboy hat and riding on a horse-sized cat, entered the room next. He tipped his hat at Sora._

_"Want a ride?" He asked._

_"No, thank you," Sora told him politely._

_"That's okay!" Demyx said. "We need to go polish our soda's anyway!"_

_And then Zexion pulled Demyx up onto the cat and rode off into the sunset, knocking down Sora's wall as they went. Sora stared blankly at a few oranges floating by before turning to his brother, who had changed attitudes entirely, now looking as angry as he could manage._

_"I HATE the color red!" Roxas ranted, storming around the room. "I hate it SO MUCH! It's a horrible color! And I hate it even more when it's with green! URGH! Who would come up with such an annoying, gross, decisive, self-centered color combination? I hate it! I hate it, Sora!"_

_"Why do you hate Christmas, Roxas?" Sora asked, confused. Roxas shook his head._

"_It's not that, it's something completely different."_

"_I like silver," Sora replied lamely, remembering the flash of silver he'd seen from the corner of his eye. "Silver's a good color, right?"_

_Roxas scowled and turned away, crossing his arms and continuing to mutter about hating the color red. _

"_Silver's not always the best, Sora." He shouted over his shoulder before going back to his mutterings._

_-static-_

_"One of you is going to die," a voice crooned softly. "But I'll make it quick. It's just something that has to be done. Nothing personal, of course."_

_Sora saw another flash of silver, heard a dark laugh. The world went black for a second, and all Sora had to hold on to was his brother's hand._

_As the two walked towards the safety of the blue, space and time-traveling police box, a new figure came to them._

_It was a bald man in a suit and thick rimmed, round glasses who walked up to him, making his grand appearance. He had two thin squares of cheese on his head._

_"I wear the cheese, the cheese does not wear me," He told Sora seriously, a solemn expression on his face._

_-static-_

_"Hey," Sora said, plopping down on the sand and staring out at the ocean. "What's wrong?"_

_Roxas sighed dejectedly, turning his face towards his brother. Sora met his eyes._

_"Reception in this place sucks. Damn static."_

xxxx

"Ahh!" Sora cried out, springing from his bed. Roxas, who had his head stuck in the door to the bathroom for some reason, poked it out again and looked at his brother in confusion and worry.

"What's wrong? Bad dream?" He asked, but Sora just panted heavily, clenching the sheets tight in his hands.

See that his brother would not respond, Roxas sighed and floated over to the dresser, opening the drawers.

"Well, maybe they'll have some omelets down in the breakfast area. Those always cheer you up, right? Maybe they'll have cheddar!"

"NO, NO CHEESE!" Sora yelled out in response, a frenzied look in his eyes.

The ghost spun around to look at his brother oddly, before he shrugged and got Sora's clothes out of the drawer.

"Whatever, Sora. Don't drag me into your crazy dreams."

Blushing, the boy stretched and rolled over, moving his legs onto the floor before his whole body rolled off the bed. He stood up, stretched once more, and yawned. Blinking, he noticed that Roxas had laid his clothes out on the floor.

"This should be good for the day. Come on, let's go to breakfast. I promise you won't have to get anything with cheese in it." He added in a mocking tone, and Sora stuck out his tongue in response.

"So, you ready for this?" Roxas smirked as they left the room, biting back a laugh as Sora tried to nod his head discretely.

Taking a deep breath, Roxas tried to put up a half-shield, or as he preferred to call it, 'a shadow shield thing'. He had never tried this before, and was only going off Zexion's explanation, but figured it could not be that hard. He didn't really feel any different, but the desired effect would be a dark shadow following closely behind Sora, with no details shown.

They entered the cafeteria and Sora let out a low whistle. "How can everyone be so awake this early?" He muttered to his brother.

"Focus, Sor," Roxas told his brother. "You have a job to do. Now stand there and look lost and overwhelmed."

This was not hard to accomplish, as the noise that came from the rather large group of kids was almost deafening. Sora felt himself pale slightly. All these people. He hadn't ever seen this many people-let alone teenagers-in one place. _And,_ he reminded himself, feeling a little queasy, _not all the students have even arrived yet._

"Rox," Sora muttered. "I think I may have a teeny, tiny, slight fear of large crowds."

Sora saw his brother cock an eyebrow out him. Even though his brother had not said anything, he knew the ghost was silently asking 'you're kidding, right?'

"...They're gonna eat me alive," Sora whispered, shifting his weight awkwardly as he felt a few pairs of eyes land on him. He dropped his gaze to the floor and shuffled forward slightly.

"Sora!" A voice called, causing Sora to snap his head up so quickly he was surprised he didn't get whiplash. A wave of relief washed over him as he saw Namine smiling at him reassuringly.

"Namine," He breathed. "I think you just saved my life." He glanced around at all the curious eyes that followed him as he grinned at the petite blond. Namine laughed.

"C'mon, I already got you something," She said, leading him to a table where two boys sat. Sora looked at her with eyes filled with gratitude as he noticed the breakfast foods (no cheese in sight) on a tray sitting on the table. Sora followed his nose to the food, mouth nearly watering as he gazed at it with something akin to love. He could hear Roxas chuckling quietly behind him as he reached the table. As he sat down, he heard Namine speak to the others at the table, who Sora had forgotten about with the prospect of food. He looked up as she spoke.

"Guys, this is Sora. Sora, these are the friends I was visiting before."

One of the boys had spiky bright red hair and mischievous green eyes, along with two tear shaped tattoos under his eyes. He had his eyebrows raised at Sora, as though in disbelief, before a smirk found it's way onto his face and he nodded at the boy.

The other boy was staring at him with a serious expression on his face. Sora found himself blinking a few times. Did he have silver hair? That... couldn't possibly be natural, could it? He also had the strangest, aquamarine colored eyes. Sora found himself grinning at the two boys. They seemed nice. So, these two were the Seers?

"Hi," He grinned cheerfully as he sat down. "It's nice to meet you. Um...So, Namine's told you about me already?" He asked, trying to get over the odd gazes he was getting. He noticed their eyes darting every few seconds to Roxas, who was surely floating behind him and looking like the creepy ghost stalker he was pretending to be. Sora bit his tongue to keep from laughing as he saw they were trying not to make their eye movements too obvious. The red head answered his question.

"Yeah, she's told us... Some stuff about you. New kid, right? Where you from?" He asked, getting the formalities out of the way. Sora smiled a little sadly as he thought of his home, which he would not be able to see for a few months. He held back a sigh at the thought.

"Oh, Destiny Islands. It's really nice there, but tiny. There's only one high school, and it's pretty far from home... But I didn't mind too much." He added, and could tell that Roxas was resisting the urge to comfort him. He noticed out of his peripheral that Namine was giving him a sad smile, and he grinned at her, then turned back to the guys.

"It's okay, though. I have kinda wanted to travel, I guess." Sora smiled, and noticed that the silver haired boy's eyes were almost sympathetic. The red head, on the other hand, kept his smirk.

"That's pretty far away, but this place can be fun, despite it's school-y appearance. I'm sure you'll have a great time here." He added with a smile, and Sora grinned in return.

"What about you? Are you from Hollow Bastion?"

All three shook their heads. "We're from Traverse Town." Silver said, speaking for the first time. Sora looked to him, but Red continued.

"It's only five minutes away from the edge of HB, though, so no biggie."

"That's cool." Sora remarked, smiling easily. He noticed the three beginning to relax a bit, though he did catch a few more eyes darting to the figure behind him. He noticed they moved every so slightly, so he could tell his brother was moving around behind him. Feeling an odd bout of impatience, Sora decided to bring up a new topic.

"So, do you guys like ghosts, too?"

Sora pretended not to notice as the three exchanged odd glances.

"Why do you ask?" Red said carefully.

"Oh, 'cause Namine told me she was really into ghosts right now, and whenever my friends get into anything new they always drag me into it," Sora grinned as innocently as he could manage. They bought it, of course.

"Yeah, ghost stories are cool," Red shrugged. "I've read a few of the books Namine has. They always play on the 'someone's watching you' feeling. Kinda creepy. You ever feel like that?"

"Nope." Sora saw his brother roll his eyes and he grinned brightly. They weren't very good at subtlety.

"Have you?"

"You know that the basement is haunted, right?" Silver said. Sora really wished he could remember their names.

"Yeah, I've heard some stuff about it," Sora shrugged. "I don't really believe in ghosts."

Sora pretended not to notice as they looked at each other in disbelief. He took a bite of his breakfast and tried not to make a face. He preffered Roxas' cooking.

"So what are your names?" Sora asked before an awkward silence could fall.

"Axel, commit it to memory, shrimp," the red head said. Sora pouted. He was NOT a shrimp. He just didn't eat much.

"Riku," the other boy said shortly. Sora smiled at him.

"Riku means land, doesn't it?" He asked curiously. Riku nodded.

"And 'sora' means sky?" he asked.

Sora nodded and took a drink of his orange juice. Roxas snorted.

"Looks like you're on top, Sor," he muttered to his brother.

Sora choked on his orange juice, turning bright red while trying to glare at his brother. Namine was staring at him with worry on her face.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Sora nodded, trying to glare at his brother without it being obvious. Roxas was laughing as loud as he possibly could, and pointing at Sora.

That was how the rest of breakfast went. Sora would try and act as innocent and oblivious as possible and make small talk while Roxas goofed off. By the end of breakfast, Sora was fairly sure the other Seers thought he was crazy, as he kept laughing out loud when no one had said anything. He was really surprised when he was invited to hang out with the three of them for the rest of the day. All in all, it was a pretty nice experience for Sora.

Roxas, however, could not say the same. The second he entered the cafeteria, he'd felt the presence of the Seers. It was even more overwhelming than the first time. Maybe because there was more than one, or because he felt a stranger hate for the other boys than for the blond girl. Either way, it was pretty difficult to control himself.

He didn't understand why he hated them. And 'hate' truly was the right word. In fact, he though that was putting it a bit lightly. It took every ounce of self control he possessed not to start throwing food at the conceited, silver haired pretty-boy who continuously snubbed his brother throughout the conversation. And the red head. He bit back a growl. He'd give anything to be able to punch that guy in the jaw, just to wipe that cocky smirk off his face.

Glancing at Sora out of the corner of his eye, he amended that statement. He'd give almost anything.


	5. Chapter Four

**Author's Note: **NiffStral: Before OA has a chance to say something completely random and inappropriate, I just wanna say that we're REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sorry this chapter took an extra long time to come out!

Outkast Angel: Yeah, sorry. That was kind of my bad n.n' I didn't mean to, though!

NiffStral: It's okay, it was both our faults. And the school, for starting and giving too much homework.

Outkast Angel: Yeah. Okay, so before we get started on the disclaimer and stuff I have something to say to one of our reviewers. **DearlyBeloved-13**: Fellow Roxas fan! I embrace thee! -embraces-

NiffStral: Yes yes, Roxas is great, blah blah blah. On a similar topic, I want to thank **Insanecat6,** **DearlyBeloved-3**, and **Lindoreda** for guessing the dream sequence references from last chapter. No one got all of them, but you guys rock for guessing. Online fun stuffs for you all!

Outkast Angel: Moving along...

NiffStral: Okay! Since you've been waiting, in order of appearance, the references were to Firefly, the Twilight saga, Harry Potter, another Twilight one, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Belgariad/Mallorean, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, another Buffy, Charlie the Unicorn, Doctor Who, and a third Buffy one. Phew! Oh... guess there were 12, not 11. My bad!

Outkast Angel: So, for all those readers out there I would just like to say that we actually sorta-kinda-not-really-but-almost have the plot planned out. So no worries!

NiffStral: ...-cough-

Outkast Angel: n.n Right. So. Make Bobert (the submit review button? remember him?) happy and all that good stuff.

NiffStral; I don't think so. HERE'S DEH DISCLAIMER!! In the words of sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes, (WE OWN) NOTHING! ...Relating to Kingdom Hearts, anyway. We also don't own the Dr. Horrible reference, or the Dead Like Me one.

Outkast Angel: Well, that's it. Enjoy! Constructive criticism is welcomed. As are flames, 'cause I think they're funny.

NiffStral: Yes, 'cause we know how much Axel loooooves them.

**NOTE: **Sorry about this being maybe a bit unedited, I was in sort of a rush when getting this out. Oh, and there's a character who makes an appearance later in this chapter who was accidentally mentioned in passing in chapter one, I believe. Well, just pretend that mention of him never happened. I'll get around to editing it out later...Maybe. -shifty eyes-

**-CHAPTER FOUR-**

"Ah, that really did the trick." Axel said in satisfaction, patting his stomach with a satiated look on his face. Riku sighed, Roxas glared from his invisible position, and Namine and Sora giggled at his facial expression.

"Axel, you look like you're high or something." Riku said, rolling his eyes. Axel shrugged, idly tossing his leftover roll at Riku's face. The silver-haired boy ducked, letting the roll hit some poor student walking by. The student glared at them, and Axel stuck out his tongue in reply.

"Dinner was pretty good tonight, though." Namine commented, finishing up her own food. She smiled at the boys once she was done, pulling out her sketchbook to draw something. Earlier that day, Sora had found out that the female Seer was quite the artist, and, as Axel put it, had an "addiction" to drawing at times.

Riku shrugged, already done with his meal. "Eh, same as usual, in my opinion."

Sora forked his chicken, stuffing the last of it in his mouth.

"Wow, I thought cafeteria food was supposed to suck. This was actually pretty good." He said, coughing as he swallowed the food. Namine looked at him with worry, but Sora shook his head, smiling. As he brought his fork over to grab some more, looking down at his food, he reached out to grab his water glass. The three held back laughter as his hand met only empty air as he held out an open hand to where he thought his glass had been. They stopped their laughter, however, as Roxas, unbeknownst to them, smirked and pushed the water glass into his brother's hand. Sora grabbed the glass, taking a long swig before continuing to eat. He hadn't looked up from his plate the entire time.

Riku, Axel, and Namine stared at the brunet, eyes wide. Roxas laughed at their expressions, causing Sora to look up, mouth still full, as he looked at the other three in confusion as he noticed their shocked expressions.

He swallowed roughly. "What? What is it? Did I get food on my face?"

Namine was the first to regain her composure, and she blinked slowly, shaking her head. "No, it's nothing. We just thought we saw something go by."

Frowning, Sora resisted the urge to turn around and ask his brother what he had done, for Sora knew the ghost had done something to freak out the others.

He could almost feel Roxas roll his eyes from behind him. "I'll tell you later, you slowy."

"Are we ready to go, then?" Riku asked, standing up. Sora could tell he was still a little shaken, but trying to change the topic. Sora nodded, standing up as well. The other two followed suit quickly.

"Hey, Sora, wanna come back to our room with us? Just for a little bit before bed." Axel asked, green eyes bright. Sora hesitated, then shook his head.

"No, I have to shower, and get all my school stuff organized. I'll see you in the morning, though, alright?" Riku seemed hesitant, but slowly nodded.

"If you're sure... We'll see you tomorrow at breakfast, okay?" The junior said, and Sora nodded, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, sounds great! I had a lot of fun today, thanks for being so nice to the new guy! I know you didn't have to, and all." Sora commented, laughing a little. The other three smiled back, though to a much lesser extent than Sora, Axel excluded.

"It was nothing, Sora, you're really kind. I'm glad we're all going to be friends. Right, guys?" Namine replied kindly, looking to the other two with an almost stern expression on her face. They nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Well, see ya tomorrow, Sor'!" Axel said, then grabbed Riku's arm and ran out. Namine gave one final wave, then headed towards the opposite exit.

"Well, that was highly successful." Roxas commented as Sora began to walk towards the exit Riku and Axel had just run through. The brunet nodded, then answered once they were outside. All other students were too far away to hear, so Sora deemed it safe for them to talk. He trotted down the hill that led to the male dorm building, stopping to turn at the pavement at the bottom of the small hill.

"Yeah! It was really nice of them to give me a bigger tour, and show me the outdoor campus. I swear, if I was a good swimmer, I'd definitely give Blitzball a try. It looks really fun!" Sora said, smiling brightly. Roxas laughed.

"If I had solid legs I'd try it. Anyway, did you really not notice me pushing the glass into your hand earlier during dinner?" He asked, and Sora shook his head, blue eyes wide with confusion. Roxas didn't know whether to sigh or laugh at his slow brother.

"You're so oblivious," Roxas grinned, shaking his head at his pouting brother. "Even when you're in on it."

"Now you're just being mean," Sora crossed his arms.

Roxas laughed and followed his brother back to his room. Sora was doing his best to ignore him, but couldn't help laughing when Roxas made the most ridiculous faces at him. When they entered the room, Sora chucked a pillow through his brother.

"I'm taking a shower. Go bug someone else," Sora made a face at Roxas, who rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I'm going to use my super-special spy talents to gather valuable information."

"Super-special? You're a ghost," Sora deadpanned. "You don't need to hide. No one can see you."

Roxas laughed and floated out of the room. The moment he was away from his brother he heaved a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. Finding the Seers shouldn't be too hard; all he had to do was head in the direction that his instincts were screaming at him to get away from. Opening his eyes, he made sure that his shield was up and headed towards the basement.

He frowned when he floated through the floor and ended up in the middle of their group. They'd each made a chair (or, in the redhead's case, a couch) out of the boxes littering the room. The red head was stretching lazily while the blond girl drew something on her sketchpad. The silver haired boy sighed lightly.

"So he's definitely being haunted, and he doesn't know it." Enpitsu said in an annoyed tone, tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Get rid of it, obviously," Kuwairo said. Roxas felt his eyebrows rise. 'It'? He was an 'it' now?

"We don't know if he's bad, though," Enpitsu said.

"It's haunting Sora," Okibi put in. "We've never met one that haunts a human without having some kind of revenge planned. It probably wants to kill him."

The three fell silent for a moment and Roxas stared around at them in disbelief. They were going to try to 'get rid' of him, because they'd never met a ghost that haunted a loved one before. Hadn't Demyx and Zexion said that the Seers visited them often? Didn't the ghosts tell them _anything_?

"How are we supposed to get rid of him?" Enpitsu spoke up. "You're the only one who's ever fought a ghost, Axel."

Okibi shrugged. "You just find their Anchor and destroy it. It's not that difficult." This statement earned a snort from Kuwairo. Okibi glared. "What?"

"'Not that difficult'?" Kuwairo repeated, cocking an eyebrow. "You were in the hospital for three weeks."

"I got rid of her, didn't I?" Red head smirked at Kuwairo. "More than you could've done."

"We don't know what his Anchor is though," Enpitsu said quietly, before Kuwairo could retort.

Roxas found himself 'sitting' on the ground, watching the three with a growing curiosity. How did these three ever become friends? It wasn't like Seers could sense each other...

"If he's haunting Sora then it's probably something the kid never takes off. A necklace or something," Okibi said.

"Maybe Sora himself?" Enpitsu suggested.

Roxas blinked at Okibi's reaction to her suggestion. It looked as though the boy had spasmed before falling off of his box-couch. "That's not possible!" He declared, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"I haven't heard about anything like that happening, either," Kuwairo said, a frown marring his face. Enpitsu shrugged.

"I was just thinking out loud," She said, giving Okibi an odd look as he flopped back onto his box-couch.

"We'll just have to find out what his Anchor is and destroy it," Okibi scowled.

"Good luck," Roxas scoffed, despite the fact that the three couldn't hear him. He didn't even know what his Anchor was, not that he cared, much. No one he knew disliked him enough to try to kill him-for good-so it wasn't like it mattered, anyway.

"It's not like we can just walk up to him and say 'hey, evil spirit, tell us what object keeps you grounded to the living world so we can destroy it and kill you,'" Enpitsu said, the annoyed tone creeping back into her voice. Kuwairo rolled his eyes and Okibi huffed.

Roxas frowned around at the three of them as they fell into a tense silence. _Come on/_the blond urged silently, _it isn't that hard. Come on. _He wondered when they would realize-

"Demyx and Zexion might know something about it," Kuwairo said.

_Victory is mine! _Roxas snickered at himself and prepared to leave. He had gotten what he'd come here for.

"I finished it," Enpitsu said suddenly, and held her sketchbook out. Okibi snatched it up and Roxas found himself floating closer to get a better look at the drawing.

It was a sketch of a boy's face. His eyes were wide with something akin to shock; his hair was a bit messy and stuck up on one side. He actually looked a little like Sora, in a way. They had similar facial features. Different hair though, and Sora's eyes were a bit larger. The mouth was different somehow, too.

Roxas frowned as he looked over the sketch. The boy seemed kind of familiar…

"This is him, then? The ghost? He doesn't _look _like the essence of evil." Kuwairo grabbed the drawing from Okibi.

_Holy shit, that's me!_ Roxas thought in shock, jaw dropping. He studied the sketch in awe, committing the picture to memory. As a ghost, he didn't show up in any reflective surfaces, so he didn't know what his face actually looked like. Sora had described it to him before, but this was completely different.

"Are you sure this is _exactly _what the ghost looks like, Namine?" Okibi asked as the girl put the picture away, causing Roxas to pout in a Sora-like manner. He folded his arms as the blonde girl nodded.

"Yeah, that's pretty close from what I remember. If he ever decides to show himself again, I'll double-check, but I think this is fairly accurate."

"So all we have to do is wait for Demyx and Zexion then," Kuwairo sighed, crossing his arms.

"The one time we actually need them they aren't here," Okibi clenched his teeth.

"What was that?" A new voice suddenly sounded. "This is only the first time you've needed us? Axel, you wound me. Deeply. I shall return to Neverwas to cry due to your harsh, bitter words. For never again shall I-"

"Demyx," Zexion cut in, waving a hand lazily, as though shooing away a fly. "Stop."

"You're no fun Zexy," Demyx pouted.

Roxas felt his face split into a grin as he floated over to the other ghosts. He frowned when they gave no indication that they could see him. Maybe he could somehow fix his shield so that only ghosts could see him? Slowly, cautiously, he attempted it and felt a rush of accomplishment when Demyx threw him a wink.

"Obviously they don't know I'm here," Roxas said, attempting to be business-like, but failing horribly. "They're gonna question you. So come up with something good."

"We have a few questions we want you to answer," Okibi said seriously.

"Sir, yes, sir," Demyx mock-saluted. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Ask away," Zexion said quietly.

"I think I should explain," Enpitsu spoke up before either of the boys could think to start. "You see, we have a new transfer student, and he is being haunted by a potentially dangerous spirit. The student is named Sora Hikari. We don't know anything about the ghost, but I managed to see him for a second before he disappeared. I drew a sketch of him."

Roxas watched the ghosts' reactions carefully, pondering how well their acting skills were. They had to pull this off, after all, or Roxas would torment them until the end of their afterlives.

Namine handed over the sketch to Demyx, who took a look at it and jerked his head back so quick it looked as though he'd been burned (not that Roxas knew what that felt like, but he thought it was an interesting expression). Roxas felt his eyebrows rise slowly as Zexion took the picture and examined it while a scowl erupted across his face. Zexion showing emotion? Now that was pushing it…

"Don't overdo it, guys," Roxas warned.

"What? What's wrong?" Okibi was the one who asked, though Kuwairo had been about to.

"He's after this 'Sora' fellow? Oh, sheesh... I feel bad for him. Poor kid." Demyx sighed, closing his eyes.

"Listen," Zexion said quietly, very serious. "We have heard of this ghost, and saw him once, in Neverwas. We know hardly anything about him, only that he has a very...nasty reputation in the ghost world."

Demyx nodded vigorously in agreement. "You know Xiggy, right? Xigbar? Leader of Neverwas? Yeah, well, you shoulda seen his face last time this guy came in! He was really pissed off, and you don't wanna see Xigbar pissed off. Ever."

"If that ghost is out to kill Sora-" Kuwairo said in a dangerous tone.

"Then let him," Demyx cut in seriously. "Listen, you don't want to mess with this guy."

"The organization that runs the ghost community-" Zexion began.

"Or, the Evil League of Evil, as I like to put it," Demyx added, grinning in spite of the situation.

"Yes, they won't be of much help to this Sora. This ghost is already high on their list."

Roxas found that he couldn't take it anymore, hearing his supposed description. He burst out into loud laughter, not bothering to try and contain himself. He noticed Demyx just barely manage to hold back a smile, but Zexion's face was just as blank as ever.

The three Seers looked stricken. There was horror on all their faces, but Roxas could see some laughter boiling up on them, Okibi especially.

"So... This ghost, he's really that awful?" Enpitsu asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"He is very dangerous," Demyx said, 'discreetly' giving Zexion a thumbs up.

"Demy!" Roxas cried. "Don't _do_ that! You'll give it away!"

"But…Can we really believe that just one ghost can cause that much trouble, to one single human?" Kuwairo asked in a tight voice.

"Yes. As we previously stated, we do not know much about this ghost, but he is surely not to be trifled with. It's best to let Hikari go."

"But…We can't just leave him out to suffer!" Enpitsu exclaimed, looking very nervous. "Can't the heads of your world do anything to help?"

"Sorry guys," Demyx said, seeing that Zexion was not about to answer. "But we already told you too much. We'll talk to you later."

"Wait!" The three called, but the two ghosts had already disappeared. Enpitsu let out a sigh and picked up her sketch while Okibi began pacing and Kuwairo crossed his arms again.

"We're not going to stop trying to protect Sora, are we?" Enpitsu asked quietly. The two boys' gazes fell on her and they spoke simultaneously.

"Of course not."

Roxas smirked.

The next morning, Sora was unceremoniously woken by a wet rag in his face. Spluttering, he grabbed the wet cloth and threw it on the ground, then reached up to wipe the water out of his eyes.

"Ro...Roxas! I thought I told you to, ugh, pth, not do that anymore!" Sora yelled at his brother, spitting out the water still in his mouth. He heard laughing come from in front of him.

"Sorry, but I've been yelling at you to wake up for the past five minutes, and decided to go with an old favorite of mine." The ghost said, still laughing. Sora managed to open his eyes, only to glare at his brother, wishing he was corporeal so that he could get a taste of his own medicine.

"I'll get you back for that, you hear me?" Sora yelled, shaking his fist. Tugging off his sheets, he got out of bed, stretching. Blinking some excess water out of his eyes, he looked over to see his closet being opened of its own accord, a hanger with his school uniform floating out and laying itself on his bed. Sora grinned up at the ghost, anger forgotten.

"Thanks!" He said cheerfully, and Roxas rolled his eyes, amazed at how quick his brother was to forgive and forget all negative emotions towards others.

As the boy changed, Roxas looked at the clock. "It's almost seven, you should hurry to get some breakfast before classes start."

Sora nodded, trying to get his tie on straight. "Yeah, I'm supposed to meet my guide., um.. Olette, I think it was. She should be waiting outside the dorm building now, right?"

Roxas nodded, putting all of his brother's folders, notebooks, and pencils into his backpack. "I hope she's better than those stupid Seers." He commented, grumbling about Sora's new friends. Sora grinned, grabbing his backpack and heading out the door.

"Hey, I think Riku, Namine, and Axel are plenty nice, even if you do insist on pranking them. But don't do anything to freak out Olette, okay? She won't be able to see you anyway. Unless... Hey, do you think she's a Seer, too?" Sora asked, getting excited about the prospect, but to his disappointment Roxas shook his head.

"I don't think so. If she was a Seer, she probably would've been good friends with the other three."

Sora sighed, but nodded. "You're probably right. Oh, here we are." The had reached the door. Sora pushed it open, blinking as the sun plagued his vision immediately. As he let the door close behind him after he had stepped outside, he heard a soft giggling coming from his left as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, you'll get used to the sun after a while. I've heard guys complain about this in the mornings all the time, but that's what you get for facing the east, I guess." A feminine voice said, and as Sora squinted, he noticed a pretty brown haired girl standing in front of him. She smiled a small smile as Sora's vision was completely adjusted, holding out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Olette Miyura. You're... Sora, right?" She asked, and Sora grinned, shaking the offered hand.

"Yup! You must be my guide for today!"

"I guess so." Olette said, smiling softly at the exuberant boy. She let go of his hand and smoothed back some hair that had gotten into her eyes.

"Let's get to breakfast, then."

As she walked towards the main building, Sora frowned at her back, lagging behind a little. He crossed his arms, brow furrowed in concentration. Roxas looked at his brother with curiosity.

"Sora? What wrong? You never think this hard in the morning."

Sora glared, but mouthed "I'll tell you later" to the ghost, who nodded. Sora ran up to his guide, falling in with her step.

"So, are all our classes together, then?" He asked, and he got a concerned look on his face when Olette jumped a little from the question.

"O-oh, um, Cloud told me that we have the same morning classes, but none in the afternoon. He couldn't find anyone in all your classes, though. I'm really sorry about that."

Sora nodded. "That's okay, I have some friends in my afternoon classes. They can help show me around."

"Oh, you have friends here?" Olette asked, smiling a little. Sora frowned once more as he noticed it did not reach her eyes. "Did you know them before you came here, then?"

"No," Sora shook his head, "I met them yesterday, and they've been really nice, showing me around any everything."

"Who are they? I know most of the people in my grade, and many in others."

"Well, you might not, since they aren't sophomores like us. Two are juniors, Riku Kuwairo and Axel, um, Okibi. Then there's Namine Enpitsu, who's a freshman." Sora said, smiling to himself in satisfaction for remembering their last names. He blinked as he noticed Olette raise her eyebrows and frown.

"Oh... those three. Yeah, I know them." Olette muttered, looking at her feet, almost shamefully. Sora frowned in return.

"What? Do you not like them, or something?" He asked, getting a little angry. Olette shook her head.

"No, it's not that. They're nice, well, Namine is, at least. They're just very... Closed off. They don't really talk to others at all. Very... Aloof, I guess. I'm just surprised they made a point to talk to you, since they mainly try to avoid getting friendly with anyone else."

Sora lost his frown and nodded. He had more or less expected as much, considering no one else had come up to the four (five, counting Roxas) of them yesterday, where they had passed a lot of people. Thinking back on it, Sora did notice many odd looks he was given, but he had put them to being a new student. Now, however, he figured they might have been because of who he was with.

"Stupid Seers, think they're better than everyone... God, that's just like them." Roxas grumbled from behind him, glaring off in a random direction. Sora held back a giggle at his brother's take on the new information.

"Here we are, then. Though I suppose you've already been here for breakfast and dinner yesterday, right?" Olette asked, as they had reached the crowded cafeteria.

"Yeah, I was surprised at how good the food was, for a school. Though it is very rich and exclusive, meaning better food."

"Yeah. Oh, hey, Namine's waving at you." Olette noted, pointing at the blonde girl off a little ways, tray full of food in hand. Sora waved back, smiling.

"Olette, over here!" A voice called out from the opposite end of the room, and Olette turned around, smiling a little at her friends. She turned back to Sora.

"I can find you after I finish eating, if you want to eat with them, alright?" She asked, and Sora nodded.

"Then I'll be going..." The brunette muttered, sighing a little. As she turned around, Sora grabbed her shoulder, causing her to turn back to him, questions on her face.

"Olette... Are you okay? You seem kinda... down. Is everything alright?" Sora asked, blue eyes staring intensely into her brown. Olette blinked, then smiled a clearly fake smile.

"I'm fine. I'll see you in twenty minutes, okay?" She turned and walked away before Sora got a chance to interrogate her further.

"Sora? What is it?" Namine's voice asked, and he turned to see her walking towards him. Sora shrugged, grinning once more.

"It's nothing," he began, but Namine gave him a flat look. Sora laughed nervously, and Roxas rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious!" Sora exclaimed, but Namine kept her look. She set the tray down on the table in front of Axel's and Riku's, which were nearly empty. Axel grinned as Sora sat down.

"So, I saw you hangin' with Miyura over there. Nice choice, though she is a downer. Maybe you could cheer her up, eh?" He said, giving Sora a heavy wink. Sora widened his eyes, having never even considered that, of course, and watched as Riku hit his friend rather roughly with his tray.

"Ow! Riku, what's the deal? There's no need for that much violence, man..." Axel grumbled, rubbing his head. Riku kept his glare, then blinked, staring down at the table with a very confused expression, anger seemingly forgotten.

Sora, who had been trying to calm his brother down (who had a reaction similar to Roxas without being noticed, looked over at Namine when the girl began to laugh, a hand covering her mouth.

"Namine? What is it?" He asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion. The blonde shook her head, smiling brightly.

"Nothing, nothing... Are you alright, Axel?" She asked the red head, who had been glaring at them for not caring more about his head injury. Once Namine asked, he took a very deep breath, the back of his hand on his forehead, other hand on his heart.

"I don't know, Nam. I-I don't think I'll be able to...go..." Axel trailed off, eyes widening before he promptly let his head fall onto the table. They all stared at him as he closed his eyes, tongue sticking out.

"Is...Is he alright?" Sora asked, looking at Axel in concern. Namine and Riku simply rolled their eyes.

"Don't worry about him, Sora. He doesn't deserve it. Axel just tries to make life more dramatic at random times." Riku said, reaching over his "dead" friend for some water.

"Hey, I'm offended. I'm lying dead over here, and all you care about is water! What a great friend you are, Riku." Axel muttered, sitting up again.

"I wish I could make that a reality..." Roxas mumbled from behind his brother, glaring at the male Seers. Sora pretended not to hear.

"So, Sora," Namine began, setting her sketchbook and pencils down to talk to Sora. The boy looked down at the pad to see Namine had done a rough sketch of Axel's "deceased" face, and giggled.

"Y-yeah, Namine?"

"What were you talking to Olette about before when you had just arrived?"

Sora frowned, crossing his arms, getting Axel, Riku, and Roxas' attention.

"I don't know! She seems nice enough, but there's something about her... She just gives, I dunno, a kind of air of depression, ya know? Do you guys know what could've made her that way?"

The three Seers immediately looked down, sad looks crossing their features. Riku spoke up first after a moment of their silence.

"Olette's best friend died last year."

Sora and Roxas gasped simultaneously at this news. "That's...That's awful!"

Namine nodded sadly. "Yeah, he was electrocuted when messing with his computer's cord during a really bad lightning storm.

"Is that even _possible_?" Sora asked, still in shock.

"For someone who's around dead people all the time, you shouldn't be this surprised." Roxas said behind his brother, sounding oddly apathetic. "I mean, Demyx was killed by a toilet seat falling from the sky. This is nothing compared the that."

"Quit being so cold." Sora muttered, getting an odd look from Namine, the only other who could hear him.

Oblivious to the other comments, Axel nodded. "Yeah, it was a huge shock. Eh... no pun intended." He added, noticing the glares he was getting from the others.

"Him and 'lette were really close, too." Axel continued, looking over to the other side of the cafeteria where Olette was sitting with her friends. "We're all pretty sure he had a huge crush on her, but he never got around to saying anything before he died. Olette probably felt the same way."

"And she hasn't been the same since." Riku finished, sighing. "She'll laugh and smile, but you can tell she doesn't really mean it." Sora nodded, having noticed the same thing.

"Speaking of..." Axel added, nudging Riku and inclining his head forwards. Sora and Namine turned to see Olette walking towards them, a fake smile on her face.

"Ready to go, Sora?" The girl asked, and Sora nodded, springing to his feet. Namine followed suit, grabbing her backpack after stuffing her drawing supplies in it.

"I'll come too, I have art with you and Sora." Namine said, smiling at the girl, who smiled back.

"Sounds fine."

"See ya in gym, Sor'!" Axel said, grinning. Riku gave him a small smile as well.

"I'll see you in Creative Writing." The silver-haired junior added, idly hitting Axel's hand as it reached for his food.

"Bye guys!"

Sora turned, jogging up a little to catch up with Olette, who had already started heading towards the door. Namine followed at a walk.

Roxas, meanwhile, had found an opening. Whistling to himself, he floated over to hover between his brother and Namine, smirking as he half-shielded himself, making it so the Seers could see his outline, something he had shown them a couple times before.

The ghost slowly floated up behind his brother, raising his arms threateningly towards the oblivious boy. When he heard a gasp come from Namine, he turned, still smirking in what he hoped was a menacing way, playfully putting a finger to his lips as if to tell her not to warn Sora. Giving the three, now all glaring at him fiercely as they were unable to do anything, a mocking wave, he let himself go out of sight.

Sora and Olette were too far away to hear the loud thump caused by Riku's fists banging the table or to see Axel stand up, fists clenched. Namine, who had collected herself the fastest, shook her head at the two, mouthing "I'll take care of Sora" to them.

Breathing heavily, Riku reluctantly nodded to his friend, knowing there was nothing he could do about the ghost yet. Axel sat down, crossing his arms and frowning.

"Hey, Namine! Don't get left behind! C'mon, we're leaving!" Sora shouted, he and Olette about to exit the room. Namine gave him a smile, then ran towards him without another look back.

After a few minutes of rushing through the halls, with Namine looking very troubled, Olette looking sorrowful but trying to hide it at the same time, and Sora looking at both of them with concern, the three found themselves in the entrance to Art with Lexaeus.

Entering the room slowly, Sora looked around, seeing that the two-person tables that covered half the room (the other half full of various art equipment) were about half-filled, the rest of the students still enjoying their last few minutes of breakfast.

As Olette sat down at an empty desk and Namine next to a girl with at least eight different colors in her hair, Sora turned to the teacher's desk.

In the chair behind the desk sat a very large-looking man, brown hair sticking back behind him in an unrealistic yet casual way. His eyes were cast downwards as he read a very large book. Gulping Sora, with a gentle nudge of cool air caused by Roxas, walked towards the desk.

"Um.. Mist- I mean, uh, Lexaeus?" Sora tried, not used to referring to teachers without a Mr. or Ms. in front of a surname. He jumped as the man looked up, a frown on his face.

"Yes?" He spoke, voice very deep. Trying to stop his shaking, Sora gripped the straps of his backpack.

"I-I'm Sora Hikari, the new student."

Lexaeus looked over at his attendance, lying to the right of his book. Staring at it for a few agonizing moments, he nodded, turning back to Sora, who jumped at his gaze.

"Yes, I have you here. You can sit in the back left, right side."

With that, he turned back to his book, and Sora stood, dumbstruck, in front of the table. Was he really not going to say anything else?

"Sora. Take a seat. People are staring." Roxas said from the side, and Sora jumped once more when he saw the students' eyes gazing at him. Smiling nervously, Sora went to his designated seat in the back.

As he took a seat, setting his backpack on the ground next to his chair, Sora sighed in relief as he noticed Namine in the desk in front of his, the girl turning in her seat to give him an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry about Lexaeus, he's really very kind. He just doesn't talk much. Once class starts, he'll tell us the next big assignment, when it's due, and we work on it. I'll show you where the supplies we'll need are once we get work time."

Sora sighed in relief at the Seer's explanation, closing his eyes. "Thanks, Namine. You're a lifesaver."

Just then, the first bell rang, and a few more students came in. Blinking at the noise, Sora bent over, reaching into his bag for a binder full of paper and some pencils. It was not until he head his brother issue a small noise of anger that Sora realized something was going on. Bringing himself upright again, the brunet turned, looking up at whatever had caused his brother to be mad. The culprit was a boy, looking to be about a year older than Sora, with short, blond hair, crossed arms, and a mad expression on his face as he stood, tie not tied correctly and shirt falling out of his pants, in front of Sora, glaring.

"You're in my seat, loser."

Roxas, angrily flying in and out of the person, was infuriated in seeing that he did not react. As he was about to try again in vain, Sora shot him a stern look. Catching his eyes, Roxas slowly calmed himself down, though he still looked as if he would charge right back into the boy.

"That means _move, _if you're too stupid to understand me." The boy spoke again, tapping his foot impatiently.

Sora glared at him, but stood all the same, not wanting to cause a huge scene. He grabbed his bag and inched over to the other chair at the table, sitting. Looking around, he noticed the person had set his bag at Sora's former seat, but had yet to sit, instead giving Sora a very condescending sneer, a hunt of a smirk on his face as well.

"So, you're the new kid, huh? Well, you should probably know. The name's Seifer, and I rule this school. I don't take kindly to outsiders like you, so you'd better get on my good side if you wanna make it through the semester. Got it, chicken wuss?"

Before Sora had a chance to respond, he saw Roxas letting out a mocking laugh.

"'Chicken wuss'? What kinda lame ass insult is that?" He said, and, temporarily forgetting his anger at Seifer, Sora gave his brother a flat look.

_Please, Roxas, you've said _much _stupider things than that._ Sora's look said to the ghost, who, realizing this, laughed nervously, turning away from Sora, who smirked at his brother's embarrassment.

"Leave him alone, Seifer. Sora isn't going to stoop so low as to do what it takes to get on your good side." Namine said flatly to the boy, glaring up at him. Seifer turned his sneer towards her.

"Oh, looks like the new kid's got the stupid loner freshie to protect him. I'm so scared!" Seifer mocked, laughing at her.

At that, Sora found his anger had returned in full force, and pushed himself out of his chair, jumping to his feet in his fury. The fact that Seifer was about a head taller than him did nothing to deter his rage.

"Hey, leave Namine alone! Quit picking on us, we haven't done anything to you!"

Seifer lost his sneer, now taking a step closer to Sora, his body now very intimidating to the younger boy. As he opened his mouth, he was cut off by the late bell ringing. They both looked over to the wall, jumping slightly at the noise, when, all of a sudden, Lexaeus stood.

Both sat down immediately, eyes trained on their teacher's imposing figure.

"Draw, paint, or somehow depict something important that has happened to you in the past week," He said. "Due at the beginning of class tomorrow. Begin."

He sat back down and everyone in the class started talking simultaneously. Sora felt a bit overwhelmed. Namine, who had stood up to gather the materials she would need for her project, smiled at him.

"Don't worry, Sora," She said. "It's always like this. So long as everyone listens when Lexaeus talks and gets the assignment in on time we have free reign."

"Umm… Right, sure," Sora grinned, getting a piece of paper, a rubber eraser, and his mechanical pencil.

"What are you gonna draw?" Roxas questioned, looking over his brother's shoulder. Sora tossed him an annoyed look. "Fine," the ghost huffed. "Don't tell me."

Roxas saw Sora roll his eyes as he drew a few lines. He glanced around the class, bored, and took in the casual chaos. Sora and Namine seemed to be the only people actually working on the assignment. Everyone else was talking whilst doodling in notebooks. The teacher himself was behind his desk, reading a book. Somehow, this was not what he'd expected from a prestigious boarding school.

Casting a cautious glance at his brother, Roxas found himself breaking into a grin. Sora wouldn't mind if he bugged Enpitsu a bit, would he? Of course not. He probably wouldn't even notice, seeing as how he was so focused on his drawing.

Seeing Sora so focused on something was slightly unnerving to Roxas. Sora normally had a very short attention span, but he could really zone out when he drew.

Roxas floated over to the blond girl and watched her for a few moments. When she reached out to grab an orange chalk pastel-without lifting her eyes from her project-he quickly moved it just beyond her reach. She glanced up, frowned, and grabbed the pastel. He repeated this process a few times until finally the blond girl muttered "stop it, Ghost," and glared at the pastels.

Delighted, Roxas made two of them roll off the table. Enpitsu's scowl deepened as she stood to pick them up. Roxas made sure that no one was looking-they weren't-and moved her paper a foot to the left. She ground her teeth together as she noticed.

_At least I'm not ruining it, Seer, _Roxas thought to himself.

"What do you want?" She whispered as she sat back down.

Roxas tried to laugh in a chilling, evil way, dropping his shield just enough so that she could hear. He guessed that he'd done his evil laugh well enough, judging by the way her eyes widened and the shiver that she tried to hide. Sora, however, heard his laugh too and looked up, throwing him a confused look.

"That was creepy," He muttered to his brother as the ghost floated back to him.

"That was the point," Roxas said, content in the knowledge that his shields were up full force. "I was just creeping out Enpitsu. She's entertaining when she's annoyed."

Sora frowned at this, but said nothing, continuing to work on his drawing. Namine turned around in her seat a few minutes before class was over and smiled at him.

"What did you draw?" She asked curiously.

Blushing-he'd never had anyone but Roxas take an interest in anything he had done before-he showed her.

There was Radiant Garden, in all its fear-inducing glory, with Hollow Bastion in the background. People were lazing about in the front lawn. There was Axel, pretending to be dead, Namine sketching with a smile on her face, and Riku leaning against a tree, looking rather annoyed. On the opposite side were Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and Ella, all striking various poses for the camera that Lulu was holding. And in the upper right hand corner there was a small sketch of Yuna, all soft smiles and angel wings, which was barely noticeable.

"Who's that?" Namine asked, pointing to Yuna.

"My friend, Yuna," Sora said sadly. "She… left, recently."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Namine said, her eyes flashing with confusion.

"It's no big deal," Sora grinned.

Namine opened her mouth-probably to disagree, but was cut off by the bell. Sora sighed dramatically.

"Well, Latin's next, I think," Sora gathered up his stuff as a smile snaked its way onto his face.

"Ready, Sora?" Olette asked, falsely bright as she made her way towards him.

"Yeah," Sora nodded.

"I have Latin next too," Namine said as they left the room.

"Onwards to Latin, then," Roxas declared.


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: OutKast Angel:** -cry-

**NiffStral: **So... um... uh...

**OA:** -cry-

**NiffStral:** Um... Sorry?

**OA:** -cry- I am so sorry! It's all my fault!

**NiffStral: **Words cannot express how sorry we are for the lateness of this chapter.

**OA: **So... I had _nothing _to do with this chapter. I wrote all of three sentences.

**NiffStral: **It's okay, you were busy. With an _actual _excuse. -gasp-

**OA:** -sob-

**NiffStral:** So, there's not much in this chapter to make up for the over a month of delay, seeing as it's pretty much a filler chapter, and not too funny, seeing as I wrote most of it. >.>

**OA: **My shoe is scuffed! Somebody stepped on my shoe!

**NiffStral:** Oh no. Somebody stepped on your shoe. Which is on the ground. What a shocker.

**OA:** I know, how _dare_ they. Now I need a new pair! Oh, and, uh, that's not my excuse.

**NiffStral:** Anyways, the disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all things related to it belong to, surprisingly, not us. Who would have guessed? Also, we technically have one OC, but not really, since she's exactly like a person in real life, whom we do not own. Plus, the guest character at the end belongs to **Lindoreda**. Read her fanfics. They are amazing. And the book Cloud gives them to read I put in because Genesis is freaking obsessed with that thing in Crisis Core, so if you've played that, you'll laugh in recognition. Or something. >.> Sorry the ending's so rushed!! I fail at conclusions. T.T

**OA:** -cry-

**Warnings: **Slight sexual commentary, and Cid's potty mouth.

**-CHAPTER FIVE-**

"Salvete, omnes!"

"SALVE!"

Sora looked over his shoulder in the Latin classroom to see the teacher, who had just entered, laugh as her greeting was met with loud responses. He also noticed Roxas jokingly cover his ears with his hands at just how loud the class was. Turning in his seat, Sora stared intently at the Latin teacher, who had arrived ten minutes late, and was now standing in the front of the room. She had very frizzy white hair, glasses, and overalls on, covering a purple shirt that had some quote in Latin on the front.

"Welcome back, Latin ones! Now, before we begin with all our usual fun stuff, I want to send greetings out to a new student. Salve, Sora!"

Blinking up at the woman, who was now turning her slightly mad grin towards him, Sora responded with a timid, "Salve?"

The woman laughed again. "Ita vero! Nice job! Now, Sora, do you have any experience with Latin?"

The brunet slowly shook his head. "Not much, but I do know a little from my friend, who takes it at her school."

"Well, that's alright! Just more minds to mold for me! Anyway, my name is Ms. Boulder, but you can call me Stra, which is what everyone else does. It's short for Magistra, which means teacher in Latin. While you pick a Latin name for yourself, I'll explain next semester's assignments to the rest of the class."

Sora looked down at the dictionary, a blank look on his face, as Stra began explaining some assignment, talking to the students quite casually. He turned his blank stare to Namine, who was sitting next to him, and the girl smiled, notably holding back a laugh at his look.

"Don't worry, Stra's really fun. She's very easy-going and excitable, despite how old she looks. For your Latin name, you can either pick a famous ancient Roman person, or pick one or more words from the dictionary to be your name. I'll get you a project sheet once she's done explaining things. My Latin name is Carbo. It means Charcoal."

Sora turned back to the dictionary, a small smile breaking out across his face as he found a name.

"I think I found one," Sora announced to Namine, who smiled at him.

"What is it?" She asked curiously. "You should go tell Stra."

"It's Phasma," Sora said brightly as he stood up and quickly walked to the front of the room where the odd teacher was sitting. When he told her what he'd picked out she laughed and made a note on a sheet.

"What's phasma mean?" Roxas asked curiously as they were walking to the back of the classroom where Namine sat, a small frown on her face.

"Ghost," Sora murmured gleefully.

Roxas floated back to the front of the classroom where the teacher sat while Sora took his seat.

"Is this normally how this class goes?" the blue eyed boy asked Namine, staring at the students in the classroom. Some were sitting on desks, one person was actually _standing_ on a desk, and the entire class (including Stra) cheered when one student managed to throw a plastic bottle into the recycling bin from across the room.

"Yeah," Namine said, after she stopped clapping. "Pretty much. On workdays, at least. Today we were supposed to be working on our mythology stuff, but the past week has been pretty hectic, so we're taking a break."

"Isn't this against some rule?" Sora asked.

"Probably," Namine smiled. "So, _Phasma,_ what do you know about declining nouns?"

As the class period was nearing a close, Roxas floated over, a bright smile on his face.

"Oh man, Sora, I can't believe you missed all that! I mean, I know you had to catch up and get tutored, but you missed out on some hilarious conversations. This teacher is amazing! Who knew a supposed dead language could be this much fun?" He got out between chuckles, and Sora felt as if he could actually sweatdrop. Classes sure had been interesting so far, and it was only second period.

The bell rang, issuing the end of the class. Sora slowly stood, handing his dictionary to Namine, who offered to take it back to the front of the room. Stra gave him a cheery smile and a wave, which he returned as he headed towards the door.

"Come on, Sora, time for Creative Writing." He heard Olette say from behind him, and the boy jumped, not expecting the girl to be so close.

"R-right. Let's go."

"See you at lunch, Sora! I'll make sure to get you some food." Sora turned to hear Namine say with a small wave, before she headed the opposite direction, getting lost in the crowd in an instant. He turned back to see Olette had already begun to walk away, and rushed to catch up.

"Next is Cloud's class, right?" Roxas asked, calmly floating through people as he stayed next to his brother, who cringed at the sight. Sora quickly turned his gaze forward so he wouldn't have to see the mildly disturbing sight.

"Yeah, I think so. Oh, hey, I think Riku's in the class with us!" Sora remembered, face brightening up noticeably. Roxas hmphed, glaring ahead.

"I forgot that stupid Seer was in that with us. Dammit..." The ghost commented, mumbling to himself. Sora frowned at his brother, but kept his mouth shut. Personally, he liked Riku. He thought the silver-haired boy was really fun and smart, and even a little attractive, though he tried not to think about that part too much, since Roxas could always tell when he was blushing.

"Sora, hurry up or we'll get separated!" Olette shouted, having stopped in the hall to wait for the other. She had a gentle smile on her face, and Sora, not wanting to upset her, hurried along.

Just then, Roxas had, in the midst of floating in and out of others in the hall, spotted a familiar flash of silver hair. Smirking as he traveled up to see that the boy was frantically searching for Sora, Roxas decided to have a little fun.

Moving down next to his brother, Roxas closed his eyes and quickly made himself half-shielded, as per what the other Seers were used to. He floated about a foot behind his brother, smirking widely and crossing his arms in a hopefully threatening manner.

To Roxas's delight, Sora and Olette had, at that moment, spotted the junior. Sora grinned brightly, waving.

"Riku! Hey! Over here!"

The silver-haired boy turned, letting out a sigh of relief when he spotted the bouncing brunet. He rose his hand to wave back, but froze when he spotted the ghost.

Turning his black gaze towards Riku, Roxas moved forward slowly, uncrossing his arms to raise them, about to seemingly grab Sora around his neck. Riku, thinking that despite Roxas' being a ghost he might hold some sort of power over Sora in particular, lunged at the three.

"Haha, ha, ha, oh my god..." Roxas laughed to himself as students jumped out of the way of the three students, now all on the floor. Riku, in his attempt to save Sora, had landed on his and Olette's legs, knocking them onto their backs, Riku sprawled out on top of the two sets. For the first time, Roxas was glad he didn't have lungs, as he imagined they might not work so well in the state he was in from laughing so hard.

Sora, Riku, and Olette were all blushing madly as they struggled to sit up, all rubbing various aching body parts. Around them, students were in states similar to Roxas, all laughing their heads off.

"What was that for?" Olette snapped as she stood up. Sora shot a glare at his brother, who was still laughing.

"Sorry," Riku muttered, a light blush on his face.

"Uhm… guys?" Sora said before Olette could speak again. "I think we're gonna be-"

At that moment, the bell rang.

"Late," Sora finished his sentence.

The three ran the rest of the way to the classroom, Olette swinging the door open. The class was still in an uproar of talk, and, fortunately for them, Cloud wasn't in sight. Sora let out a sigh of relief.

"Sora, you can sit by me. I don't think we'll have a seating chart, knowing Cloud." Riku said, heading for the back of the room. With one glance at Olette, who silently headed for a group of people near the side of the room, Sora walked towards the Seer, Roxas trailing along, grumbling all the while.

"So," Sora asked, sitting down at the desk beside the one Riku had taken, "no one's had this class before in here?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah, it's the first day for everyone. Creative Writing is only a semester long course. Lucky for you, then, huh?" He asked with a smirk, and Sora nodded, giving the boy a bright smile. Roxas rolled his eyes, a bit mad at his brother's kind attitude towards the other.

As Sora opened his mouth to continue the conversation, the door was swung open, and their absent teacher rushed in, looking to be a little out of breath. Everyone stared as he walked to the front desk, setting down his back and taking off his coat. He spun around, giving the students a blank stare.

"Sorry I'm late, I had a bit of an... argument with one of the teachers. Won't happen again." He said, looking a tad flustered, despite the near-monotone voice he spoke with. He stared at the class' blank looks for a moment before sighing and taking off his coat. Sora looked at the other students in confusion as a few gasps were heard. Cloud paid them no mind.

"So, I'm Cloud, and I'll be your Creative Writing teacher for this semester. We'll be doing a fair amount of writing poems and short stories, along with reading excerpts from various stories and plays... What is it?" He cut himself off, seeing a shaky hand raise. Sora heard the student gulp at his glare for the interruption.

"I was just, um, uh..." The girl trailed off, and Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Only speak up if you have something productive to say. Now, as I was saying... What is it _now?_" Another person had their hand raised.

"I- That is, we were just wondering..." The person took a deep breath, letting her question out quickly with a stream of words. "Why are you a language arts teacher if you're so buff?"

Cloud blinked. He blinked again. Sora and Roxas blinked as well, noticing, for the first time, Cloud's appearance.

He was wearing clothes similar to the ones he had picked them up from the airport a few days ago. Purple, turtle-neck sweater, leather pants, but the sweater was sleeveless this time, showing off some rather impressive arm muscles. Sora stared in amazement, now wondering the same thing.

Cloud, however, seemed very put out by this question, crossing his arms and glaring at the class. They all simultaneously shuddered.

"I chose to be a language arts teacher because I felt like teaching something that will actually benefit someone in the future, not something as unproductive as a gym class." He explained, then paused.

"If any of you tell Cid I said that, you're looking at a failing grade for the rest of the semester. Understood?" He added with the utmost severity. With another gulp, the class nodded. Cloud gave them a tiny smirk.

"Glad to see we're on the same page, here. Anyway, I'm not going to bother with those stupid "getting to know you" games I know most teachers are fond of. Instead, for the next week, we'll be looking at excepts from the play Loveless. If you'll just give me a second to pass them out..."

As Cloud strolled over to the file cabinet in the back of the room, the class once more erupted with chatter, only slightly more hushed. Sora turned to Riku, who had watched the whole scene with an almost bored look on his face. Sora tilted his head in question to this, and Riku, reading his looked, smirked once more. Sora could hear Roxas mutter "cocky bastard" under his breath at this look, but ignored his brother.

"I had Cloud for a different class last year, and he gets asked that question every time. Oh, and he wasn't joking about the whole "failing you if you tell Cid" thing. That guy is freaky."

Sora nodded, eyes wide with understanding. He was almost dreading gym now, but knew with Axel in his class, things couldn't be too bad. The red-head was good at getting teachers on his good side, apparently.

The rest of the class passed by quickly, ending with Cloud giving them a question sheet on what they had talked about in class relating to the play they had received. Sora and Roxas met up with Olette after the bell rang, and the three headed up the stairs to their history class.

"Sora... I'm bored... Can I go somewhere and wreak havoc? Maybe prank Axel! Oh, that sounds like a fun idea!" Roxas said, cheering up, prompting his brother to glare ahead, remembering that Riku and Olette were on either side of him. Sora shook his head, trying to be as unnoticeable to the two as possible.

"Sora? You okay?" Riku asked, and Sora cursed his luck for befriending such an observant person. He shook his head, smiling brightly at Riku.

"I'm fine! Oh, look, we're here-whoa!" Sora got cut off by a blond blur rushing past him into the classroom they were about to enter. Sora stumbled back, and let Riku steady his footing.

"Thanks. What was _that?_" Sora asked, as the three looked inside the room. Olette gasped as they saw.

"Look! It's Cloud! What's he doing?" She asked, and they tilted their heads at the view.

"I think he's...talking, to Leon? Maybe?" Riku guessed, but it seemed as if there was more to it than that. Cloud, looking to be rather out of breath, had one hand on Leon's desk, the other clenched in a fist at his side. Leon, who, Sora guessed, was their history teacher, had his arms crossed and a frown, but a strange glint in his eyes. Sora, Riku, and Olette quickly jumped on the other side of the door, out of their line of sight, but Roxas stayed, going in to hear better.

"Is that our teacher? That's Leon?" Sora whispered, and the other two nodded, peeking around the wall.

"They look mad... I wish I could hear them." Olette muttered, frowning. Riku simply sighed and came back around.

"There's no point. They've been at each other's throats for weeks. But they're so quiet and serious all the time, we can never tell what's with them." He explained, leaning against the lockers. Some more students came up to the room, glanced in, then ran around to join Riku, Sora, and Olette. A few looked nervous, while others were smirking.

"Pent up sexual tension," someone said, and Sora felt his eyes go wide.

"_What? _Really?" Sora exclaimed, sticking his head back in the room. Doing so, he caught a glimpse of his brother, who was standing in between the two. Sora nearly died from curiosity when he saw the look of glee on the ghost's face. Roxas had better have an explanation for him after class...

Unfortunately, some other students happened to not notice this, and walked right into the room, causing the two teachers to jump apart from each other, Cloud muttering a "thanks" and heading right out of the room. He paused to stare at the twenty students who were all standing outside the room. With a cool glare, they all jumped and rushed into the classroom. As Sora headed nervously up to Leon, he saw Roxas, and sent him a look. Roxas grinned brightly, and nodded. Blinking, Sora looked up at his history teacher.

Leon was a very intimidating man at first glance. He wore leather pants that looked a lot like Cloud's, and had a tight white t-shirt covering his torso, a brown leather jacket over that. His hair was about chin length with some longer hairs in the back, and had a large scar going from the bottom of his forehead to the top of his nose. Very intimidating.

"You must be Sora." He stated in a level voice, and Sora nodded, still thinking about what this man could have been doing, or talking about with Cloud.

"You can sit over in that open seat by the window. Take a textbook from the back wall over there, too." With a nod, Sora complied, grabbing a thick text with some picture of ancient statues on the cover, and taking a seat. He frowned, noticing he was nowhere near Riku.

Once Leon took his place in the front of the classroom, the students silenced themselves immediately. Sora got the impression he was not a teacher you wanted to get on the bad side of.

"Welcome to the second semester of World History. We'll be focusing on the rise and fall of Midgar, as well as the ancient city of Zanarkand this quarter, with fourth being about..." Sora zoned out, staring out the window. No matter how interesting the teacher and the possible scandal occurring with him, Sora could never pay attention in any history class.

After fifty minutes of torture and many growling stomachs, the bell rang, issuing lunch. Sora jumped from his seat, startling Roxas, who, despite not being able to sleep, was dozing off.

"Lunch, lunch, lunch, lunch, lunch!" Sora chanted, racing to the door, Roxas zooming after him, yelling something Sora could not comprehend through his single-minded thoughts. He did notice, however, when Riku intercepted him at the doorway, putting his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders so that he would not trip and fall right into the busy hallway. Sora grinned brightly at the boy, before racing out again. Riku and Roxas sighed at his antics simultaneously, the latter glaring at the former once he noticed this.

Lunch was marvelous on all accounts, but, sadly, the bell for sixth period came all to soon, and Sora and Roxas found themselves heading to their next class without any of the Seers or Olette.

"Let's go, Sora! You don't wanna be late!" Roxas shouted to his brother, who was staring back at the group longingly.

_Aw, man. I do _not _want to go by myself to Vexen's class after they just told me _that_ about him... _He thought as he ascended to the fifth floor.

"I'm sure they were exaggerating. You'll be fine." Roxas said as comfortingly as possible as they pushed through the crowds up the stairs. Sora's grip on his backpack tightened.

"Yeah, well, so says the one who doesn't have to suffer through walking up this high all in one go." Sora muttered angrily to the ghost, beginning to pant as he reached the fourth level, glaring at the final set of stairs. Roxas laughed, floating up to the top with ease.

"Stop, being, such, an ass, Rox." Sora panted, finally reaching the top of the stairs. He supported himself as he headed down the short hall to his room. The ghost shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say? You have plenty of bonuses for having real limbs, can't I get this one victory?" He asked, angelic smile on his face. Sora, not understanding his brother's evil antics, nodded, eyes filled with sympathy.

"Of course! I'm so mean, how could I have said that! I'm sorry, Roxas." He apologized as they entered the near-empty room, to which he received a familiar eye roll.

"Right, Sora. Oh look, here he comes now."

The two looked over to the door, where their teacher came in. He had long blond hair going well past his neck and looking very shampooed, green, angular eyes and was wearing all black, with a white lab coat over his clothes. The teacher looked to Sora, and when Sora caught his gaze, he knew just why there had been so many things said about this man. Sora gulped.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Hikari, the new student from Destiny Islands. Welcome. You may call me Vexen. There is a seat available for you in the front row, second seat from the right. I'll grab you a periodic and an electronegativity table, and your textbook. Since it's the new semester, you can learn with the rest of the students. I'm sure you'll catch on quick enough, and if you don't, you aren't trying hard enough."

Holding back shakes, Sora grabbed the proffered items once Vexen had them in his hold, at sat. He put the textbook in his backpack and pulled out his chemistry folder, cursing the fact that he had forgotten to drop off his morning class things in his dorm during lunch. Once he had done this, he looked up, seeing that most of the other students were already seated. He recognized a couple faces from previous classes, but none he was friendly with. He sighed once more, ignoring Roxas's offers to "spice up the classroom" activities. There would be plenty of time for that later.

The bell rang, and Vexen began to speak. "Welcome, class, to another semester of chemistry. We'll be covering stoichiometry amongst other things this semester, but beginning with that. So, take out your notebooks..."

As he went over to grab the overhead projector, Sora zoned out, losing interest. He turned halfway in his seat, watching his brother fly around the lab section of the room, looking at all the glass and Bunsen burners with glee. Sora sighed, knowing his brother's love for blowing things up. He himself was partial to it as well, but when Roxas got ahold of certain equipment, there was no stopping the boy.

Sora turned his attention back to what Vexen was talking about, but upon noticing that he had not stopped from his furious scribbling on the projector, zoned out once more. He suspected that the only interesting thing about this class would be the labs.

"...So tomorrow we'll be doing the first lab of the semester. Here's the homework for tonight, found on pages 234 through 236 of the text, problems one through fifty. I expect the lab to be completed tomorrow in class, no extra time. See you tomorrow." Vexen finished, and, as if cued by the man himself, the bell rang. Sora, who had nearly fallen asleep, jumped to attention, getting up from his desk.

"That was... Boring. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, eh?" Roxas asked, grinning as he glanced over at the lab stations once more. Sighing and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Sora nodded his agreement.

As the two exited along with the other mass of students, a blur of red stopped him in his trek.

"Sora! Nice to see you again!" Axel said cheerfully, having come up to the boy from behind. Sora jumped after a second of delay, and Roxas had to stop himself from verbally growling at the junior.

"Axel? You didn't tell me you had a science class this hour! We could have walked up together!" Sora exclaimed, not quite glaring but staring up at the tall red-head, who waved off the comment.

"Ah, I had some stuff to do, didn't want to make you late on your first day to Vexen. How'd that go for ya, anyway? He can be a real tightass, huh? Fun class, though. Lots of things to burn..."

Ignoning the last comment, Sora nodded his agreement. "Yeah, you guys were right about him. It was kind of boring, though. I can't wait for the lab tomorrow. Hey, you never said, what do you take up here?"

Axel grinned at him slyly. "Advanced chem. Much harder, but loads more fun than normal. Riku says I'm kind of a chemistry nerd. What can I say? Who'd pass up getting to light stuff on fire for credit? I mean, come on."

Sora inwardly smirked, knowing his brother had similar views, but would never admit to having the same interests as his enemy. Roxas, who had not really been listening to the red-head's words, was busy glaring intensely at him, thinking of all the ways he could make the boy suffer his wrath. Pranks, that is. Not wrath. Pranks.

"Anywho, I should be off. Gotta run back to the first floor. See you in gym!" Axel said, jumping down the entire half stairwell, half-sliding down the banister as he did so. Sora watched in awe.

"Roxas... Can I try that?" He asked, already heading for the rail. The ghost, after giving himself a moment to get the murderous thoughts out of his mind, sighed, floating over to stop his brother.

"No, Sora, that's too dangerous. Go down the normal way. You'll thank me later. Seriously."

Sora pouted, crossing his arms as he darted down the stairwell.

"You're no fun..."

One floor and a rather long and congested hallway later, Sora and Roxas found themselves entering the geometry classroom belonging to one Valentine, V., or, as he had been told, Vincent.

This time, Sora was one of the last students to enter the room, but had still beaten the teacher, so he stood rather awkwardly off to one side by the desk, waiting for the man to arrive, wondering if what the others had said about him was true. A moment later, the man entered, and Sora knew that they were right.

"Dude, he really _is _a vampire!" Roxas said, and Sora, wide-eyed, nodded his agreement. Vincent had long, scraggly black hair with a red band wrapped around his forehead. He wore all black with a red overcoat that matched his hair band, and had a single gold glove on one hand. Creepiest of all was that his eyes seemed to be red, at least, from the angle Sora was seeing him. The whole image just screamed "vampire", at least to someone like Sora.

"Helloooo, class numero seven!" A cheery voice said, and Sora whirled around to see someone had entered the room behind Vincent. He sighed in relief, recognizing her as Yuffie something or other, Vincent's student teacher from the college in Hollow Bastion. He had heard good things about her.

Sora turned to tell the teacher, calmed with Yuffie's presence, but the girl had turned to him, bending over and staring up at him with a wide grin on her face.

"Oh, you must be the new kid! Sorry Hikiri!" She said cheerfully, standing up straight to offer her hand. Sora noticed Roxas got a little upset at her butchering of his name, but he didn't mind too much.

"Actually, it's Sora Hikari. But it's nice to meet you, um, Yuffie, right?" The boy said, taking her hand with a matching grin. The girl pulled away, saluting.

"Yup! Yuffie Kisaragi, ninja slash student teacher! I'll be helpin' Vinnie here teach you youngin's the wonder that is geometry! Aren't you lucky?" She said cheerfully, bouncing over to the desk, standing beside the much taller, darker man, providing quite a contrast in look and personality. Sora, about to ask about the ninja comment, stopped when he noticed a very slight twitch on the teacher.

"Don't call me that, Yuffie. Mr. Hikari, you may choose an unoccupied seat. I will give you your textbook tomorrow, as you will not be needing it for tonight's homework, and I would imagine your bag is rather full at this time." The vampiric man said in a level voice, and Sora turned and headed for an empty seat immediately after he had finished talking. Yuffie was fun, but how she got along with Vincent he would never understand. He did seem kind, though, in his own special way.

"I bet they're having sex." Roxas piped in, and Sora spluttered, nearly falling out of his seat.

"Roxas! How can you say that?! We just met them! You can't just go around accusing every single teacher at this school of stuff like that!" Sora whispered angrily out of the corner of his mouth, but his brother merely laughed. They did not have time to continue their debate as the bell had rung, prompting Vincent to start speaking.

"Welcome back. This semester we will be not doing any proofs," he paused as a few students cheered, "but instead focusing on area and volume, with a few other units thrown in. To reiterate from last semester, brought on by a few incidents that occurred last quarter, if you find it necessary to disrupt my class for any reason, please, stop immediately."

"That's not what you said last night, Vin." Yuffie cut in, waggling her eyebrows. Sora's eyes grew wide, and ever wider when he noticed that Vincent made the slightest of slight flinches, before resuming his usual bored look, continuing with the instructions.

"Told you." Roxas said in a sing-song voice, but Sora did not notice, too shocked by her blatant admittance of the fact that something may be going on between the two, but more shockingly, the fact that Vincent said nothing to disprove her words.

"Anyway," Vincent continued on, "you have the rest of the period to work on homework." With that, he sat, opening his large textbook in front of him, Yuffie resting her arm on his shoulder, again, prompting no reaction from the man.

"I'm here if anyone has questions~!" Yuffie added, waving at the students, some of whom waved back. Sora, pulling out his notebook, turned to his brother, an eyebrow raised in question.

"What? Sora, you need to learn that I am a master at guessing these things. Just accept the fact that I'm a brilliant, amazing ghost, and am quite possible psychic." Roxas commented hautily, smirking down at his brother, who threw a pencil at him. As it clattered to the ground, Yuffie gave him a questioning glance.

"New kid? Sora? You alright? Don't be havin' any freak-outs on me, now." She waggled a finger at him in a mocking manner, but Sora blushed anyway, leaning over to pick up the pencil.

"No, I'm fine. Just thought I saw a-a bug. Yeah, a giant bug. Maybe it flew in through the window?" He fibbed, and Yuffie frowned.

"A bug? Hm... Odd for this time of year, but I have seen a few huge ones flyin' around. Hey, sexy," she began, turning to face Vincent, who was still wrapped up in his book, and did not grace her with a glance. The student teacher slash ninja was not deterred. "Can you shut the window with those hunky arms of yours? Bugs are gettin' in."

Blinking slowly, Vincent set down his book, slowly standing up. With a dramatic wave of his coat, he went over to the window, pushing it down swiftly. The whole thing took about ten seconds. Sora and Roxas gaped at the man in awe, then at Yuffie, who, if Sora was not mistaken, gave him a firm pat on the butt as he walked back.

"This school is so weird." Sora muttered to himself, putting his head down on his desk.

At the end of the period, Sora and Roxas slowly left the classroom, trying desperately to not look at Yuffie, who had been making an enormous amount of sexual... actions throughout the period.

"I think this might be a period where I go off to prank the Seers, Sora. Hate to leave you on your own, but I get the feeling that they'll only get worse as the year goes on." Roxas said to his brother, who glared at him.

"But, you can't leave me alone with that! I'll go crazy!" He replied, gesturing madly, but Roxas merely shrugged, a look of pity on his face.

Before they could continue the conversation, Axel jumped out at them from around the corner, a mad grin on his face.

"Hey little dude!" The junior said, waving, coming over. Sora, who had become frozen with the other's sudden appearance, pouted.

"I'm not little."

Axel kept his grin, staring down at him. Roxas glared at the taller boy, wishing he could chuck something at his ridiculous hair. "Sure you are. How was... what was it you had? Math? How was that?"

Sora frowned, crossing his arms. "You told me Vincent was creepy, but you never said anything about how his "student teacher" would act around him! She's insane! Isn't there something in the rules about making the comments she did?"

Axel, with a look of concentration on his face, crossed his arms as well. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen them together, actually. I just knew about Yuffie from when I had her last year, but she wasn't with Vincent, then. She seemed really hyper, but smart. Why, what did she do in your class?" He finished with a sly smirk, which Sora met with a pout.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Shouldn't we be going to gym now?" At that, Sora walked around Axel, heading for the stairwell he could see a few yards away. Reaching the stairs, he heard the other jogging after him, putting a hand on his shoulder once he caught up.

"Don't touch my brother, you asshole!" Roxas shouted, fists clenched, causing his brother to stiffen, having just noticed the hand on his shoulder. He held back a laugh as he saw Roxas flying in and out of the older teen, probably very frustrated. Sora wondered why he didn't go into his half-ghost form, seeing as he had done so earlier with Riku. They got to the second floor, and Axel shuddered, looking around with a suspicious look on his face. Sora titled his head in question.

"Axel? Are you alright?"

Axel shook his head, eyes confused. "I thought I just felt something... Oh." Apparently realizing he was probably feeling Sora's stalker, he put his hand on the boy's shoulder once more, tightening his grip. They continued to walk, Roxas slowly calming down, but smirked, getting an idea.

"Hey, Sora, do you think I should-?"

"Look, we're here!" Axel unknowingly cut in, pointing to the set of double doors that led to the gym. Sora sent an apologetic glance to his brother, who was, once again, becoming infuriated with the red-head, and followed Axel.

"Do we have to change?" He asked, and Axel shook his head.

"Not usually on the first couple days of class. We'll probably start out with something easy that doesn't require planning on Cid's part. He can be pretty lazy sometimes."

With a nod, the two headed in, Roxas floating along, muttering swear words at Axel from behind him, which Sora did his best to ignore. Looking around, they saw a group of students all sitting in a clump around a door leading outside, no teacher in sight.

"Where's the teacher?" Sora asked as they sat down on the edge of the chattering students. Axel shrugged.

"Probably out there smoking before class starts." He replied calmly, stretching out on his back on the floor. Sora blanched.

"Smoking? Isn't that... not allowed? During school, I mean?"

"Cid _always _has a smoke before class. Apparently, it's the only way he can deal with us." Axel added, smirking on the ground. Sora looked out the window, spotting a flash of blond hair behind a tree. Sighing, he turned back around, staring at the floor.

"What a crazy school." He muttered, rubbing his forehead. Roxas nodded his agreement, still busy swearing at Axel, who remained oblivious.

"Tell me about it."

The Seer sat up when they all heard the door slam open, and Sora looked up to see their teacher enter, pocketing a pack of cigarettes. He was half-squinting, had short blond hair that stuck up on top much like Roxas's, and wore a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He had a gruff look about him, and was very loud in his mutterings as he stepped in front of the group of students, crossing his arms. Sora saw Axel smirk out of the corner of his eyes.

"So, I see you lucky bastards got gym this semester, and thought it'd be a breeze. We'll, I'm glad to tell ya that you're WRONG." Cid began, shouting the last word, causing Sora and several others to jump in their positions on the ground.

"This class ain't a slacker class. I expect each an' every one of ya to work your asses off every single day, ya hear me? Lucky for you little fuckers, today bein' the first day, you can get off easy with a simple game of dodgeball. Pick your own teams, make sure it's even, and the balls are over there. I'll dump 'em once you've made your teams. Go." And with that, he went over to a wall and slouched, eyes closed. After a moment of shock from those who had never experienced Cid before, everyone stood, forming teams immediately as to not upset the man further. Sora, standing, turned to Axel with wide eyes.

"He's.. He's so..."

"Great, right? I know. Crazy old geezer." He relpied, grinning as he stood as well. Sora shook his head in amazement.

"I get what Cloud meant by that comment earlier, though..."

Turning to the rest of the class, Sora noticed most of them had already formed teams. Axel dragged Sora over to one side of the room, and didn't seem to notice when the other students gave them wide berth.

"Made your teams yet?" Cid asked, pushing himself from the wall. The few in the middle who had yet to decide quickly went over to a side. Cid walked over to the barrel of dodgeballs, wheeling it over to the center of the gym. Sora and Axel followed their team to the other side of the gym, lining up along the wall. In the middle, Cid began to explain the rules.

"If you get hit, go over behind the blue line on the other team's side. You can only get out if someone from your side throws a ball at you, and you catch it. Headshots count. Go nuts." With that, he dumped the balls onto the floor, and blew his whistle.

People ran forward to get the balls, which were suddenly flying. Axel slowly pushing himself from the wall, and went to stand in the middle of their team's side of the floor. Sora walked up to him, ducking along the way.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked, when Axel did nothing to dodge a ball that nearly hit him in the side. Axel cursed, then shrugged.

"If you get out, you don't have to do anything the rest of the game." He explained, sticking out an arm and letting himself get hit. Grinning at Sora, he strolled over to the other side. Sora, ducking once more, looked at the other in shock.

"Well, Sora? Feeling lazy or not?" Roxas asked, grinning as ball flew through him. Thinking, Sora looked back and forth from the others on his team, to Axel, who was sitting lazily on the other side of the gym.

"Um..." Sora muttered, but before he had a chance to decide, a ball hit him squarely in the stomach. Gasping, Sora sighed, smiling up at Roxas, still rubbing his stomach.

"Guess that was decided for me." He said, walking across the gym. On the way over, Roxas made sure to chuck a ball as hard as he could at the head of the kid who had hit Sora. He smirked when the kid looked around in confusion before heading over to Sora's team's trench.

"Glad to see you decided to join me, kid." Axel said as Sora came over, taking a seat on the dirty floor beside him, grinning.

He turned away, only to watch as a ball flew through the air directly towards them, landing a direct hit on the unsuspecting Axel's head. Axel stood, enraged.

"Okay, who threw that?! Fess up!" He yelled, fists clenching. His gaze narrowed, and to Roxas's delight, he even grew a bit paler as he spotted a red-haired girl, grinning cheekily at Axel, waving.

"God-dammit, Aimi, you're on my freaking team! Why'd you do that!" He yelled at the girl, who, still grinning came over to them, having been hit. She didn't seem to mind.

"Who's that?" Sora asked as the girl came over. Looking at her more closely, he noticed she had green eyes that looked very much like Axel's, and had tattoos under her eyes. She looked like she could have been Axel's sister.

"Oh, that's Aimi. She's been bugging me since middle school. She's like the little sister I'm really glad I never had." Axel muttered angrily. Reaching the two of them, she smiled, waving at Sora.

"Hey, you must be the new kid! Name's Aimi. Nice to meet you! Hopefully you're picking on Axel sufficiently enough when I can't be around." She greeted, and Sora smiled at her.

"I'm Sora, and it's good to meet you, too." He replied. They looked up when they saw a ball flying their way, and with a lift of a hand, Aimi swiftly caught it.

"Well, gotta game to play! See you around, Sora. And don't worry, Ax, I'll be around." She added, grinning an evil grin at the red-head, who glared right back. Roxas chuckled.

"I like her."

The bell rang about half an hour later, and they exited, Axel, still wary of Roxas, kept a hand hovering near Sora at all times. Once they were outside, they headed for the dorms, and Axel was grinning once more.

"Axel, Sora!" A voice called, and they looked over to see Namine and Riku running towards them. Sora smiled, waving as they came over. They immediately glanced around, looking for any sign that Sora's ghost might be up to no good, but Roxas, distracted with something or other, did not do anything to provoke odd reactions. Sora sighed in relief, not sure he was up for more crazy antics that day.

Namine smiled gently up at Sora, who noticed her sketchbook tight in one hand.

"So, how was your first day?" She asked, smile still in place.

Sora sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Nothing like I expected."


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N:**** NiffStral: **Shalom, haverim!

**OutKast Angel**: HIYAZ!

**NiffStral:** -does the dance of updates-

**OA:** Zoh my gawd, guess what? I wrote lots of this chappie! 'Cause I didn't do anything last chapter

**NiffStral:** Yes, this chapter is entirely by OA. Hide the young'ins.

**OA:** Hey! I resent that. And it's not entirely mine. You did the beginning.

**NiffStral:** What, the first 500 words are me? Psh, that's nothin'. It's less than a something in the something-time.

**OA:** ...what?

**NiffStral:** -sniffle- I didn't want to do this. OA dragged my away from my lovely Pokemon Sapphire. I have recently re-discovered how fun (and addicting) it is.

**OA: **I was playing my Pokemon Fire Red earlier today.

**NiffStral:** SAPPHIRE IS BETTER! Plus all my pokemon are named after Kingdom Hearts characters! I love my Swampert Demyx. ^^

**OA: **Uhm, yeah... Back to the actual Author's Note.

**NiffStral:** I'LL DISCLAIM YAY! Everything of and relating to Kingdom Hearts belongs to not us. Surprise, surprise. Mr. Hobo also belongs to us. Also, all businesses/products kind-of-not-really mentioned belong to their respective owners, aaaaaand, the named Squallmart was thought up of by my good buddy, who wished me to link her AMAZINGLYTASTICALRIFFIC artwork! http : // king of thieves . deviantart . com / (remove zee spaces).

**OA:** And also the band Atreyu is mentioned, which is an awesome band. And Johnny The Homicidal Maniac belongs to Jhonen Vasquez. All hail, for he will one day rule us all.

**NiffStral:** Oh, I thought you were referencing The Shining with that one.

**OA:** lol no. Who remembers Invader Zim?

**NiffStral:** Greatest little kid's show in the history of EVER.

**OA: **It was made by the same guy.

**NiffStral:** I kneeeew that.

**OA:** Of course.

**NiffStral: **Sorry about lack of plot in this chapter, but ah swearz, next will have **PLOT**. **YAY.**

**-CHAPTER SIX-**

"...And then I thought, wait, why isn't anyone there anymore? So, I went outside, and looked around for hours and days and months... Well, maybe just a few minutes. Anyways, I was looking for them, and that's when I met you! That's my story!" Sora finished, smiling at the homeless person he was currently talking to. Said man blinked, eyebrows raised as he processed Sora's story.

"Well... That's something. And you say this is your first trip to Hollow Bastion?" The man asked, pulling his jacket tighter around him as a gust of wind blew by. Sora nodded, smiling brightly.

"Yup! I just moved here from Destiny Islands. Oh, do you want some of my sandwich? I'm not that hungry." Sora asked, pulling a wrapped ham sandwich out of one of his baggy pockets. The man nodded and stared at the morsel with hunger on his face. Opening it, Sora ripped it in two, giving half to his new friend, who immediately dug at it. Sora joined in.

"So..." Sora began, once he had finished, shifting around on the bench they were seated on. "What do you do for fun around here?"

The homeless man blinked at him, mouth full of sandwich. Swallowing, he answered. "Well, the park over there is pretty nice." He pointed at the block in the distance, where there was, in fact, a park. "It's the only one in the city, as big as Hollow Bastion is."

Sora looked at it with wide, gleeful eyes. "Maybe we can go there once my friends find me!"

The homeless man nodded, still munching on the sandwich, while Sora kicked his legs back and forth, smiling up at the cloudy sky.

_-The previous day-_

The final bell of the day sounded, the noise immediately followed by a gigantic Axel hug. Sora gasped for air, patting the exuberant teen on the back to get off. Before Roxas had a chance to do anything to the red-head, Axel complied, grinning at Sora.

"It's the weekend! Finally!" He cheered along with tons of other students as they exited the gym, and out of the corner of his eye, Sora noticed Cid sigh in relief, pulling out his cigarettes.

"Let's go meet up with Riku and Namine, Sora, alright?" Axel asked, bouncing up and down. Sora joined in, and the two raced off to their usual meeting place in the frosty outside between the main building and the boy's dorm.

The two walked outside, and Sora smiled at the small white layer of snow covering the grass and leaves. Radiant Garden apparently didn't see much snow, even in late January as it was at the time. So, when snow had suddenly begun to fall two days ago, the students were thrilled. Sora and Roxas especially, since, living on a tropical island, they had never seen the white powder before. Sora smiled as he looked up at the sky once they were outside.

"I wonder if it's gonna snow again." He asked, looking up at the slightly cloudy sky. He heard Axel laugh, and looked to him, frowning.

"Doubtful. We get snow here twice, maybe three times a year. It probably won't happen for a while, if ever again. Besides, who would like the snow? It's like... water, trying to disguise itself with a pretty white form. Ugh." Axel shuddered at the thought of water, and Sora giggled. He had discovered Axel's hatred of anything cold and wet a few days ago, after an accident involving an ice cup at lunch, ending with Roxas very much amused.

Axel wrapped his coat around him as wind blew past, scanning the crowd for the familiar sight of Namine and Riku. Sora, unable to see much because of his height and the large amount of people blocking his view, continued to stare up at the sky, focusing on bringing snow forth with his mind. Roxas laughed at his brother's attempts.

"Calm down, Sora," Roxas rolled his eyes. "Jeeze."

Sora only grinned brightly and gave up. He plopped down on the ground and began making snow balls. Roxas blinked at him before grinning and making some of his own. No one seemed to notice this, being too busy looking for others or wrapped up in their own thoughts.

In the two minutes that it had taken Axel to locate Riku and Namine, Sora and Roxas had been able to make a rather large pile of snow balls. Axel stared at him in confusion when he noticed, but said nothing, preferring to head in the other Seers' direction.

"I hope it's not this cold in the city tomorrow," Axel muttered.

"City?" Sora and Roxas repeated.

"Yeah," Axel said, shortening his strides so that Sora could keep up. "Why? Do you really wand to be stuck at school all weekend?"

"No," Sora laughed. "I just sort of forgot that we're allowed to go to Hollow Bastion on the weekends."

Axel shot him a grin as they neared Namine and Riku. Riku frowned at Axel's expression as they made their way inside.

"What are you smiling about?" The silver haired boy demanded. "What are you planning?"

"Can't a guy just be happy? Jeeze, just because I'm smiling doesn't mean I'm _planning _something," Axel said, but he still had a large grin on his face.

"So what did you do?" Namine asked blandly as they neared their usual spot in one of the more deserted hallways of the main building. Axel's grin grew larger.

"Fire in chemistry," he said gleefully.

Riku rolled his eyes and said something, but Sora was suddenly distracted by his brother's voice and didn't hear.

"You know," the ghost said, "We could have gone earlier this week and that way you wouldn't get lost."

Sora resisted making a face at his brother. Sneaking out during his first week at a new school wasn't one of Roxas's more brilliant ideas. Besides, the brunet had homework to do (lots of it). And then there was-hey! Who said he was going to get lost?

"And you _know _you're going to get lost, Sora," Roxas continued. "This is your first trip to a big city. And you expect _those_ people to take care of you?" He glanced at Riku and Axel, who seemed to be having an epic battle with unsharpened pencils.

"Not very likely," Roxas concluded as Axel fell to the ground dramatically, one hand covering his heart. He reached out with his other hand to Namine.

"Avenge me," the red head croaked.

"You're so mean," Sora muttered to his brother as Namine nudged Axel with her foot. "They're just having fun."

"What did you say?" Riku asked, glancing at Sora curiously. Roxas narrowed his eyes at the Seer and double checked his shield.

"Just talking to myself," Sora blushed, laughing sheepishly. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, then. Olette's gonna help me with something."

Sora grinned and waved as he began walking down the hallway.

"Good luck resurrecting Axel," he called to Riku. The red head still lay on the ground. Namine had pulled out her sketch pad and was quickly trying to capture the image.

Roxas noted that Riku's eyes were still watching his brother's retreating back and grit his teeth.

"I don't particularly like Kuwairo," Roxas informed his brother as they made their way to the library.

"You don't particularly like any of them," Sora corrected.

Roxas didn't bother arguing and instead helped Sora wrestle the heavy door of the library open. The brunet immediately headed to the table where Olette sat, her nose buried in a book. She looked up and smiled at Sora when he sat down and Sora grinned brightly back at her.

"I'm gonna go do stuff," Roxas told his brother, who nodded discretely as he pulled out his books.

While Olette tried to explain Latin to a very confused Sora, Roxas headed over to the desk where the librarian sat. She seemed to be playing a game called Squallsweeper on a humming computer. Roxas observed the game for a few minutes, but quickly lost interest.

Smiling to himself, Roxas reached his hand into the machine and decided that he would show the librarian a much more fun game to play.

Three hours later the librarian pulled the plug out of the wall and glared, muttering about evil internet sites and possessed computers. Roxas was tempted to make the computer turn on again just to scare the lady a little bit more, but noticed that his brother was heading for the door.

The brothers were silent as they made their way to their room. Sora threw the door open and collapsed on the bed with a groan.

"My poor head," he moaned. "I don't understand any of this stuff!"

Roxas laughed at his brother's misfortune and closed the door after pulling Sora's bag into the room.

"At least you're done with it for tonight," the ghost said cheerfully. "Now you get to work on your _other_ homework." A tortured noise escaped from Sora's throat. "At least we get to go to the city tomorrow," Roxas grinned.

"I'm going to sleep," Sora declared, smothering himself with a pillow. His voice was muffled as he continued to talk. "I'm ignoring you. Go away. And turn off the lights."

Roxas rolled his eyes, but did as his brother asked. After bidding Sora goodnight and wishing the brunet sweet dreams he disappeared to Neverwas, leaving his brother snoring lightly in the dark room.

XXXXX

Sora! Sorasorasora! Sora, wake up! It's time to wake up Sora! Wake up! Sora! So-ra, wake up! Wake up, wake up! Sora! Sora, wake up! Sora Sora Sora, wake up! Sora, wake up! It's time to wake up Sora! Wake up! Sora! C'mon Sora! Sora, wake u-"

"_Whaaaaat_?" Sora finally croaked out before he yawned widely. He muttered something that Roxas translated loosely as 'it's Saturday. G'way.'

"It's time to go to the city, Sora!" Roxas cried excitedly. "So get up! Up! Get up so we can go!"

Sora's response to this was to groan his disapproval and roll onto his stomach. He pulled the blankets up over his head and shunned the world.

Roxas grinned and ripped the covers off of his brother's bed. Sora let out a pathetic sounding noise of betrayal before he grabbed a pillow and used it to block out the too-bright sun. Roxas couldn't just let that happen, so he tried to pull the pillow out of this brother's grip. Sora refused to release his sun-shielding pillow, however, and ended up dangling a foot above the bed, much to his brother's delight.

"Pu' mah dow," Sora demanded sleepily.

"Okay," Roxas said in a sing-song voice. He let Sora drop to the floor with a 'thump.' Sora didn't really seem to care, as he rolled over and tried to fall back asleep.

"Fine," Roxas said with a shrug. "I guess I'll just have to go reveal myself to the Seers and tell them you aren't going. While I'm there I guess I'll tell them that you wear Mickey Mouse boxers and that-"

"No!" Sora cried. "I'm up! I'm up!"

The blue eyed brunet shot around the room like a rocket powered bouncy ball and was dressed and running down the hall in less than twenty five seconds. Roxas was left in the center of the room, looking around in awe. Sora's messy room had become a disaster area.

"Well," the ghost commented, "that was rather effective."

As Roxas leisurely floated through various floors and walls, Sora entered the cafeteria, vaguely wondering how coffee would affect him if Roxas would ever let him near any.

Few students were in the cafeteria and Sora made his way over to where Namine sat drawing something or other in her sketchbook. A tray piled with food sat a little away from the blond girl, completely forgotten.

"Hi," Sora said cheerfully." Namine glanced up at him and stifled a laugh.

"Good morning," she smiled. "Tell me, Sora, do people from Destiny Islands normally wear their shirts backwards?"

Sora blinked down at his shirt and blushed.

"All the time," he said, and set about turning his shirt the right way. Namine held back another laugh.

"You're pretty early," the blond Seer commented. Sora grinned as he noticed his brother coming to float behind her. "Axel and Riku won't be up for another hour at least, and they probably won't make it down here for even longer than that."

Namine offered Sora food and he grabbed an apple at his brother's urging. Namine went back to drawing (Roxas frowned when he noticed that she was sketching his brother) and Sora pulled out a book from his bag. Roxas made the first half hour go quickly by playing 'keep away' with the Seer. Whenever she would reach out for anything-water, food, pencils, erasers-he would move it just beyond her reach. He was ecstatic when he heard her growl slightly, but soon after that he lost interest because the Seer stopped reacting.

"Hey, Sor'," Roxas said, "I'm gonna go wake up the other Seers. They're taking too long."

Sora frowned his displeasure but continued reading. Roxas deciphered this as 'go ahead, but don't kill them.'

It was only when he'd reached the third floor of the boy's dorm that he realized that he didn't know where the Seer's room was located, only that they shared one. Shrugging, Roxas did the most logical thing he could think of; he began floating through every room, searching for the male Seers.

Luckily the two occupied the first room he entered for, in hindsight, his plan was not very intelligent.

The two boys were sleeping soundly in their beds. The red head lay sprawled across the mattress, whereas the silver haired boy was on his side, facing the wall. Roxas frowned, trying to figure out the best way to wake them up. Looking around the nearly spotless room, he got an idea.

He floated over to the desk and opened a drawer. He grabbed the papers and threw them around the room. He threw the drawer to the other side of the room. It hit the wall with a loud 'crash.' Kuwairo sat up quickly, looking around the room with wild eyes and a muttered "what the hell?". Okibi stayed asleep.

Roxas threw the other drawers and what they contained as well. By this time, Okibi had gotten up and the two boys were standing in the middle of the room, back to back, in protective stances.

Roxas ripped the blankets off of Kuwairo's bed and threw the mattress close to the Seers. After Roxas had moved on to throwing clothing, Okibi managed to regain the gift of speech.

"What the fuck do you want, ghost!?" He demanded. Roxas dropped the shoe he was holding and floated closer to the Seers.

He dropped his shield just enough so that they could hear his voice.

"Stay away from Sora Hikari," He growled before throwing his shield up again and floating through the floor.

When Roxas entered the cafeteria he had a large, self-satisfied grin on his face. Sora shot him a questioning look, but Roxas laughed and said "tell you later."

Sora frowned at his brother, wondering what he could have possibly done to Riku and Axel to make him so happy. His suspicions increased when the two Seers entered the cafeteria a few minutes later with twin scowls on their faces. Tossing an annoyed look at his brother, Sora turned his attention to the other boys.

"Good morning," He said cheerfully, trademark grin in place.

"Morning," Riku muttered. Axel didn't say anything at all.

Namine shot the two of them a questioning look, but Riku just shook his head. Sora took this to mean 'I'll tell you later.' He saw Namine frown, but accepted it.

Axel grabbed an apple and bit into it furiously. Sora and Namine looked at him with a worried expression.

"What did the apple ever do to you?" Sora asked, blinking rapidly. Axel shrugged.

"So when are we leaving?" Riku asked.

"Now," Namine said, standing up and grabbing her small bag. "Does everyone have everything?"

"How are we getting there?" Sora asked as they made their way out of the building. Riku and Axel seemed to have calmed down a bit and Axel shot him an amused look.

"We're walking," He said. "It's only about fifteen minutes away."

Had it only been himself and Roxas, Sora would have complained non-stop about the cold, and probably would have been distracted multiple times by the snow. Roxas probably wouldn't have cared; and would have just tossed a snowball or two at his head. But the other Seers were there and Sora didn't exactly know them well enough to be annoying just for the sake of being annoying.

Besides, how could Sora focus on the snow when he was going to visit his first big city?

When the Seers (and ghost) entered the city, Sora stared around with wide eyes. There was just so _much_. How was he supposed to explore this entire city in one weekend? It was huge. The buildings were so close together that it looked to Sora like the entire block was just one big building. The apartment buildings were seven stories high, at least. Off in the distance Sora could see gigantic sky scrapers looming over the rest of the city. He wondered what they were for. He and Roxas would probably find out sooner or later, if Sora knew his brother.

"Wow," Roxas said, impressed. "We'll have to sneak out a lot to be able to navigate through this city."

Sora nodded his agreement, causing Namine to glance at him oddly. Riku and Axel were watching him with barely contained laughter. Before anyone else could say anything, Sora spoke.

"What's Squallbucks?" He asked curiously, pointing to a rather interestingly colored building. It was short and squat, but from what Sora could see it was pretty crowded.

"It's a coffee place," Namine said. "Do you drink coffee, Sora?"

"Nah, R- uhm… My brother never let me near any. Something about losing his sanity," Sora grinned.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Axel commented as they began walking again. Sora followed the group, looking every direction he could manage. He stopped to smile and wave at a small girl in a blue dress that was holding a teddy bear. She looked at him shyly and waved back before crossing the street. Sora frowned when he glanced around and didn't see anyone who looked like they could be her parents.

"Crap," Roxas swore. "Come up with something good Sora. And don't tell them my name."

"What?" Sora asked, turning to his brother who had conveniently placed himself in front of Axel.

"I said 'I didn't know you had a brother,'" Axel repeated himself, rolling his eyes with a smile.

"_Lie_," Roxas explained.

"Oh, yeah," Sora laughed. "He's older than me. He looks out for me a lot and-puppy! Puppy! Right there!"

With that Sora ran in front of the group and asked if he could pet the stranger's little dog. The woman looked at him oddly before her lips twitched up a little and she nodded. The other Seers stared at Sora with something akin to disbelief as the brunet went about playing with the dog (the dog seemed to be paying more attention to Roxas than Sora, as the canine's eyes followed the ghost wherever he moved) and talking to the woman until the woman explained that she had to get going.

Sora gave her his cell phone number and told her that if she ever needed anyone to watch Spot (the dog's name; he didn't actually have any spots, which Roxas found humorous) she should give him a call. Roxas stared at his brother before bursting into laughter.

"I never knew your ADD would come in handy," he said. Sora smiled at the other Seers, who shook their heads slowly and started walking again. "You do know that you go to a _boarding school_, right? You aren't exactly gonna have time to dog sit."

Sora stuck his tongue out at his brother. The other Seers didn't notice this, thankfully, and Roxas told Sora to watch it.

"So now that Sora's given out his number to a complete stranger, is there anything in particular that someone wants to do?" Namine smiled.

"To Squallmart!" Axel demanded and took off in a random direction.

"I guess we're going to Squallmart," Riku muttered, following his friend. Sora, Namine, and Roxas lagged behind slightly.

"What's Squallmart?" Sora asked the blond girl.

"It's a really big store that has really cheap stuff. It has practically anything you could ask for," Namine explained. "It's not too far from here. Actually, it's just around this corner, I think."

They rounded the corner and Sora saw a large, dark building. In glowing blue letters it said 'Squallmart.' Under the name of the store there were smaller yellow letters spelling out the words 'Always low prices. Always.' Next to that slogan was a rather apathetic smiley face, which wasn't actually smiling.

Namine, Sora, and Roxas caught up with the other two, who were waiting in front of the store for them. As the doors slid open, Axel put up his hands and said "I'm a freaking jedi," while he mimed pushing the doors open. Riku rolled his eyes at his friend, but Sora laughed.

"So what do you need to get, Axel?" Sora asked curiously as they walked into the crowded store. The other Seers looked at him blankly before Axel placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed.

"Sora, Sora, Sora," he said in a defeated tone. "We have so much to teach you. How can you expect to get by in the world if you enter a store expecting to _buy_ something? I mean, really, how-"

"What this idiot means is that we're here to drive the workers and-slash-or customers completely insane with childish antics," Riku cut the red head off.

"Sounds fun," Sora grinned. Namine hid a smile behind her hand. "What do we do first?"

Axel looked delighted.

"To the gift wrap!" He cried, and dragged Sora by the wrist in the direction of this gift wrap. When they reached their destination, the green eyed boy threw Sora a blue tube of gift wrap, claiming a red one as his own. Namine delicately took a green roll, and Riku, with another eye roll, grabbed a yellow one. Sora stared at the tube, confused.

"I challenge you to a duel!" Axel declared, and then hit Sora over the head with his gift wrap.

Five minutes later, the four of them were locked in an epic battle. Alliances were formed and broken again and again until it was just a chaotic free-for-all. Roxas sat at the sidelines, laughing.

This continued for quite a few minutes before a loud cough interrupted them. A boy in a uniform stood only a few feet away, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Axel grinned and threw him a tube of gift wrap. Sora used Axel's moment of distraction to his advantage and hit the lanky teen in the stomach with his gift wrap.

About half an hour later the four of them snuck out while the manager surveyed the other customers and/or workers with vast disappointment.

"Well," Riku said as they walked down the street, avoiding random passerby. "I guess we can cross number thirty seven off of the list."

"List?" Sora and Roxas repeated.

"We have a list of one hundred and two annoying things to do at Squallmart," Namine explained. "Last time we were here Axel had a philosophical conversation with a pair of socks, I hid in a clothes rack and whispered for customers to 'buy me,' and Riku went up to an employee and said 'we've got a code three in Housewares,' which had a rather interesting effect. I'm surprised they haven't just banned us yet."

"Oh, they've tried," Axel said sinisterly. "They've tried." He burst out into a round of evil laughter until Riku hit him on the back of the head. He tossed his friend a wounded look.

"Ooh! Music!" Sora said, before Axel could go off on another rant. The brunet ran into the store and looked around as though he'd never seen anything like it (he actually hadn't, but that's not really the point).

Sora walked over to a random shelf and began looking at CD's while the other's mulled about, looking rather bored. Roxas glanced at a shelf and his eyes lit up. Was that the new Atreyu CD? He'd been looking for that for awhile…

He picked up the CD and flipped it over, looking at the songs, but found it wasn't the one he'd been searching for. He put it back and picked up a new one. This continued for awhile until he heard the red head's voice coming from behind him.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Okibi complained, turning to go find the other Seers and inform them of the extra presence. Roxas made a face at him, despite the fact that the Seer couldn't see it, and went back to looking at the CD's. They actually had a pretty good range of music for such a small store.

While this was happening, Sora found himself distracted by something on the other side of the street. He walked out of the store, paying no attention to the location of his friends or brother, and crossed the street. He didn't notice that he'd almost gotten hit by a car. All his attention was focused on the necklace in the store window. It was a silver crown pendant. It was calling out to him. 'Sora,' it said to him, 'I'm right here, come and get me.'

With a smile, Sora entered the store and asked the nice lady behind the counter if she could get it for him. After he'd paid and donned his new necklace, Sora found himself outside of the shop, quite alone. This would have disturbed him more than it actually did, had there not been another Squallbucks sitting at the end of the street, taunting him.

He took off in the direction of the coffee shop, determined to try a French vanilla cappuccino (he'd seen someone on TV buy one once. It looked like an interesting experience). Roxas wasn't around, so there was no chance of his brother losing his sanity, after all. However, when he neared the Squallbucks, he saw a rather interesting shirt in the window of the store across the street. Sora stopped walking and looked between the stores, biting his lip. Coffee sounded good, but that shirt was so colorful…

As he was turning his head to look back at the Squallbucks, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He blinked a few times before a grin broke out across his face. That man looked rather lonely, sitting on the bench all by himself. Making up his mind, Sora walked over to the man determinedly.

"Hi! I'm Sora," Sora said. "Can I sit here? Wanna be friends?"

The man looked at him warily as he sat down. Sora didn't notice this, however, and continued talking.

"So I'm here 'cause we're let out of the school on weekends, but we gotta be back by eleven. I was supposed to be with my friends, but I saw this," Sora held up his shiny new necklace, "isn't it cool? I think so, and look! It's shiny! So anyway, I kind of went off by myself, and now I don't know where they are-my friends, I mean-and I don't know their cell phone numbers and I never actually gave them mine, but they didn't really ask so it's not _all _my fault. It's a funny story, actually, 'cause this morning my brother woke me up by throwing me on the floor and-"

"Hey kid," the lonely homeless man said. "Sora, right? You wouldn't happen to have any spare change, would you?"

Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his munny. He handed it to the homeless man. He needed it more than Sora did, after all. The poor guy was almost skin and bones. The lonely homeless man stared at him like he was crazy, but accepted the money with a timid 'thank you.'

"So… umm…" The man said. "Your story?"

"Oh!" Sora said. "Right! Now, where was I…"

_-Meanwhile-_

"Guys, where'd Sora go?"

Roxas had just been about to find his brother and ask him to buy a CD that looked rather promising when the female Seer's voice broke through his thoughts. Frowning, Roxas did a quick sweep of the store and swore when he realized that his brother was no where to be found. He heard Okibi swear behind him.

"He was just here!" Okibi exclaimed. "Oh no. The ghost is here. It's probably gonna make Sora get hit by a car or something!"

"Because of course that's logical," Roxas snapped. The Seers didn't hear him, of course. But it made him feel a bit better.

Okibi took a step and Roxas grabbed his shoe. The red head felt flying. Kuwairo stared at him in disbelief while Enpitsu bit back a laugh.

"Nice one, Ax," Kuwairo said.

The ghost snickered and quickly left the store. He went right while the Seers went left. Roxas found himself floating around the city with no idea of where he was. It wasn't like he could just stop a random stranger and ask if they'd seen a hyper brunet anywhere.

As he floated past the third Squallbucks he'd seen in the city he thought he saw his brother. He quickly caught up to the kid but saw that his hair was far less spiky than Sora's. He popped the kid's balloon and felt better as he floated away. What was a teenager doing holding onto a balloon anyway?

Roxas continued on his journey, floating through any store that looked like it might catch his brother's attention. While he didn't catch sight of Sora, he did see some rather vomit-inducing outfits. After leaving the fifth store he decided to give up the shops and just search the streets.

Knowing Sora, he'd probably made friends with some random person. Roxas could only hope that said person was not actually a homicidal maniac. Preferably one not named Johnny. Thinking back on it, he probably shouldn't have stopped to look at that graphic novel in Squall and Nobles.

Sighing, Roxas shook himself out of his thoughts and stared hard at the people standing at the street corner, waiting to cross. Though he didn't see any sign of his brother, a little boy did catch his attention. He was dressed in old, dirty clothes and his blond hair was tangled and greasy. He looked rather sickly and he had his nose buried in a book.

Because he was absorbed in the book he wasn't looking where he was going and would surely try to cross the busy street. Roxas swore and quickly made his way over to the boy, floating through random people who shivered and pulled their coats tighter around themselves.

He managed to reach the kid as he was about to step foot into the street. Roxas grabbed the collar of the kid's shirt and pulled him back as a car sped by. The little boy looked around, startled, and frowned.

"Thanks, Ghost," The boy muttered and took off running.

Roxas didn't move, shocked for a moment, as his eyes followed the small kid until he got lost in the crowd. That kid _couldn't_ have been a Seer. Besides the fact that Roxas hadn't felt an overwhelming urge to hurt the boy, it was just too… strange. How many Seers were there around here? Just as the ghost had made up his mind to go and try to find the kid again, a loud, familiar voice broke through his thoughts.

"Axel! Would you get up! That's the fourth time today!" Kuwairo said.

"It's not my fault," The red head declared. "I swear! It's the ghost!"

Roxas raised his eyebrows as Enpitsu helped Okibi off of the ground. As far as he knew, he'd only tripped Okibi once. Maybe the annoying boy should watch where he stepped a bit more carefully. Frowning thoughtfully, Roxas floated over to the Seers. Hadn't he gone in the opposite direction from them? Shouldn't they be… somewhere away from him?

"Where could that kid _be_?" Okibi complained as they started walking again.

"Where would Sora go?" Enpitsu said. "You know, we wouldn't have this problem if someone had gotten his cell phone number like I'd suggested."

"I forgot," Kuwairo snapped. "Drop it."

Suddenly Roxas felt incredibly stupid. As he followed the Seers around the corner, he realized with relief that this street was completely deserted. He could see why. It looked disgusting. But at least there was a pay phone…

Roxas moved ahead of the Seers and picked up the phone. He stuck his hand into the machine and frowned, trying to remember the exact instructions his technology-obsessed ghost friend had given him however long ago.

"You can't be serious," Kuwairo's voice said. Roxas glanced back at the Seers and rolled his eyes as he saw that they were staring at the phone (which to them must have looked like it was floating, Roxas realized, because he had his shields up) with dumbstruck looks on their faces.

"Is that even possible?" Enpitsu asked. "I didn't know ghosts could interact with technology."

"Well," Okibi said. "That's not good."

Roxas contemplated putting the phone back down, but shrugged and continued to dial, thinking that it wouldn't matter anyway. The three Seers stared blankly as the phone moved up and down a little in mid-air, numbers being pressed in by a force they couldn't see. Roxas ignored them, and grinned when he heard a ringing on the other end.

_-Meanwhile-_

"So then Roxas grabs some oranges and a lighter and-"

_/What's it feel like to be a ghost? Louder now, louder now. So what's it feel like to-/_

"Hi!" Sora said into his cell phone, pulling it out of his pocket and opening it up.

"Sora, where are you?" Roxas sounded rather annoyed.

"Umm… I'm by a Squallbucks and a Squall and Nobles," Sora said, glancing around. "I'm at a bench with my new friend Mr. Hobo!"

Said new friend probably would have been insulted by this, but he figured that he'd gotten forty dollars and half a sandwich from this kid. He could call him whatever he wanted.

"Mr. Hobo?" Roxas incredulous voice said. "What the hell are you-no. Never mind. I'll be there soon, okay? I can't believe I missed you before. I was in Squall and Nobles a little bit ago. Oh, and I think I may have run into another Seer. He couldn't have been older than seven. I'll tell you more later. Bye."

Sora hung up and grinned at Mr. Hobo.

"That was my brother," he told the man. "He'll be here soon."

"Uh-huh," The homeless man said after Sora went quiet for a few moments. The brunet was looking around at the sights and frowning.

"So, what's up with all this Squall stuff?" He asked his friend, who blinked.

"It's a monopoly," the man said. When Sora only blinked at him a few times the man sighed. "A monopoly is where there is only one seller and many buyers. The Squall market started a long time ago and the company's been passed down through the generations to the eldest son, who has always been named Squall."

"That's a little… strange," Sora said. Mr. Hobo shrugged.

"I heard that the Squall of this generation got so sick of everything that he just decided to change his name and become a teacher," the homeless man told Sora. "He's actually a teacher at that school of yours, I think."

Sora's eyes got wide. "Really?" He asked. "Wow."

_-Meanwhile-_

Roxas frowned as he surveyed the three uneasy Seers, hanging up the pay phone. He could just go off and find his brother and demand that they either head back to the school or check out the huge sky scrapers, but Sora would just want to find the other Seers anyway. Then again, he couldn't just drop his shields and order the Seers to follow him.

"What do we do?" Enpitsu whispered to her companions, who shrugged. Roxas rolled his eyes. A fat lot of help they were.

Roxas dropped his shield enough so that they could see a vague outline of him. He heard Okibi suck in a rather loud breath and Kuwairo's face hardened. Roxas stayed in one spot for a few moments before he started moving towards the other end of the street. He glanced back to make sure that the Seers were following him. They were, though they were doing so very cautiously.

"Why are we following a homicidal ghost?" Okibi asked.

"Do you think he used that phone to contact someone in Neverwas?" Enpitsu asked, ignoring the green eyed boy.

"I don't know if that's even possible, Nam," Kuwairo informed the blond girl. "And do you really trust that ghost to have free reign of this city, Ax? Who knows what it'll do."

Roxas sighed in exasperation as he floated through a group of giggling girls, who immediately fell silent and walked just a little bit quicker.

Roxas spotted his brother sitting on a bench with a rather pathetic looking man. They were both drinking out of a Squallbucks coffee cup and the man was eating a donut. The ghost moved a little bit quicker, throwing up his shields completely so that the Seers could no longer follow him. They stopped, spotting Sora, and Enpitsu was the only one to say anything before they started walking towards the brunet.

"I'm confused," she admitted. The male Seers nodded their agreement.

"Hi guys!" Sora exclaimed when he spotted them. He shot an excited grin to his brother, who raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "What's up? This is my new friend, Mr. Hobo."

"Mr. Hobo," Axel repeated blandly.

"Your new… friend?" Namine inquired, and rubbed her temples when Sora nodded.

"Sora," Riku said slowly. "How exactly did you meet your new friend?"

"Well, I was gonna go to Squallbucks but then I saw this really cool shirt so I couldn't make up my mind, and then I saw Mr. Hobo and I thought he looked lonely so I sat down and asked if he wanted to be friends," Sora explained happily. "So then we ate a sandwich and then we were thirsty so we went and got hot chocolate from the Squallbucks and Mr. Hobo got a donut and then we came back here. Can we go to the park? It looks cool."

There was a moment of shocked silence before Riku spoke again.

"Sora, you can't just go up to random men who look lonely and ask if they want to be friends," the silver haired boy told Sora, who frowned at him.

"Well how else am I supposed to make friends?" Sora asked.

Riku opened his mouth to answer, but then stopped, looking rather lost. He glanced at Axel and Namine who looked as dumbfounded as he did. His eyes then landed on the homeless man, who shrugged and took a bite out of his donut. Finally Riku just shook his head.

"I really have to stop letting you go off on your own Sora," Roxas said, looking right at the silver haired boy with narrowed eyes. "One of these days you're gonna get yourself raped."

Sora ignored his brother's comment and stood up, stretching. He grinned at Mr. Hobo and reminded the man that Sora's number was written on his arm.

"So," Sora turned to the other Seers with a smile on his face. "To the park?"


	8. Chapter Seven

**OA:** Hello people! Sorry this is so late. Now, normally, I would start this off with a random fact about Elvis and his monkey or maybe about pigeons and their link to diabetes or something. However… actually, I would like to let my co-author say why I'm not starting this AN as I usually do.

…

**OA:** oh yeah, that's right. She can't tell you because SHE'S NOT HERE! She's off in Israel somewhere, doing something that isn't helping me with this thing.

**OA:** That's right, everyone, I'm alone for this chapter. Aren't I the saddest little person you've ever seen? I mean, I'm all alone, without my Niffstral to guide me back onto the logical path that doesn't involve conversing about the pink elephant I saw the other day. He was very pretty, by the way.

**OA:** So, I think I should probably do the disclaimer, but I don't really see the point. You all know that I don't own anything, anyway. And now I don't have anyone to complain to other than you people. 'Cause I'm all alone.

**OA:** Okay, so Niffstral told me to talk about how there's a bit of plot in this chapter, which she made sure to include. Pfft. Lame. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, or something. Again, sorry it's so late. And I think this chapter might be a little shorter than the others. Sorry about that, too.

**OA:** Yeah, so… I'm going to go angst about being all alone now. I think I could give Zexion a run for his money, yeah? Oh, and all the scene breaks will be capitalized words without spaces, 'cause I'm bored and Niffstral isn't here to stop me.

**-Chapter Seven-**

_Why is my brother such an idiot?_ Roxas thought as he floated by the four Seers in the park in Hollow Bastion.

They had been there for about an hour, most of which was spent by Sora getting himself into more trouble, much to Okibi's amusement and, Roxas remembered with a glare, Kuwairo's worry. He cared for Sora far too much, in Roxas' opinion. At the moment, Okibi and Sora were playing run-around-in-circles with someone's dog, Enpitsu was leaning against a tree, drawing something or other, and Kuwairo was sitting next to her, staring at Sora. Which reminded him...

Roxas cackled as he let a rather heavy apple fall from the tree onto Kuwairo's unsuspecting head, causing the boy to spring up, look around furiously with a glare, mumble profanities under his breath, then sit down again, eyes darting around the park, looking for him. He had done this a few times, and it had yet to get old. The first time, the three Seers had gathered in a tiny group away from Sora, whom they had distracted, and discussed the "evil ghost" but had gotten no success from their attempts. After that, Kuwairo's reactions had been similar, but always hilarious. He drifted over to him and the girl Seer once Kuwairo had sat back down.

"This has got to stop, Nam," he told the artist, who spared him a glance, then rolled her eyes, continuing to draw.

"Calm down, Riku. If the ghost wanted to hurt Sora, he would have done so by now. Besides, he wouldn't dare try anything with us here. We may not know how to stop him, but we still have powers."

Roxas raised his eyebrows. Powers? That was new.

The silver-haired boy frowned before he sighed and stared at Sora once more. "I suppose... We need to do something about the ghost, though, and soon. Who knows what he'll try to do to Sora? We can't keep risking his safety like this! There must be something we can do!"

Enpitsu sighed, setting down her pencil. Roxas floated closer, looking at her drawing. Sora and the dog were featured, but Okibi could be seen in the background, chasing after them. The lake looked stunning behind them. She really was an amazing artist.

Not that Roxas would ever admit that, of course.

"We can't do anything until he attacks, Riku," Enpitsu explained to the stubborn junior, who crossed his arms. "And dropping apples on your head does _not_ count as an attack."

Kuwairo glowered, but said nothing, going back to his Sora-watching. Roxas noticed, with hatred, that his eyes seemed to soften as they watched the hyper brunet carefully. With a smirk, he dropped another apple on top of the boy's head, getting a loud reaction.

Roxas turned when he heard a familiar growl coming from behind him. Glancing over at Sora, who had been knocked over by the equally enthusiastic golden retriever, he smiled, making his way over.

"Sora, you're hungry," he told his brother, after glancing at Okibi's watch. Sora jumped at Roxas' voice, and stood, pushing the dog off him. He looked up at the sun's position, and turned to Okibi, who had been about to join the dog pile.

"Hey, Axel, what time is it?" Sora asked the red-head, who glanced at his watch.

"Nearly noon-thirty," he replied, suddenly grabbing Sora's arm and leading him over to where Enpitsu and Kuwairo sat, the latter idly rubbing his head after the previous apple-attack. Roxas and the dog raced after them, Roxas sending death glares at Okibi for daring to be that close to his brother.

"Hey, guys, it's lunch time!" Okibi announced, and Kuwairo stood, nodding, as Enpitsu put her pencil and sketchpad back into her bag.

"Where did you want to go?" Kuwairo asked, removing Okibi's hand from Sora, replacing it with his own. Roxas wasn't sure which hand he hated more.

Roxas frowned as Okibi got a maniacal grin on his face. "I was thinking we could head over to my brother's apartment and eat all his food. He should be at work about now. What d'ya think?"

Kuwairo hmm-ed in thought, but Sora perked up. "Oh! Your brother lives here? Cool. Are you sure he'll be at work? I wanna meet him!" he said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. Okibi shrugged.

"Sounds like that matter's decided. C'mon, we gotta catch a bus that goes out to the homes around the city if we want to get there before dinner."

Roxas sighed, not wanting to visit Okibi's family members, but realized he had no choice. He floated along slowly, following the Seers out of the park, only turning around to glare at the dog, who, being naturally nervous around ghosts, ran back to his owner with a terrified yelp.

INSERTSCENEBREAKHEREMWAHAHAHA

The apartment building was small and dirty. There were clothes littered about and a rather impressive pile of Squallbucks coffee cups occupied the small table that sat a little bit away from the old, battered brown couch. On said couch a skinny blonde woman lay, looking for all the world as though she hadn't a care. The blonde woman was watching TV with a bored look on her face, and didn't even bother glancing up as the group entered. Okibi groaned loudly when he saw her and his shoulder's slumped a little in defeat, and Kuwairo rolled his eyes at him.

Roxas noticed that his brother was preparing to speak—probably to ask if the blonde woman wanted to be friends—when a red blur sped from the kitchen and attacked Okibi.

"AXEL!" the blur (who wasn't much of a blur anymore, but rather a man) cried as he threw Okibi into a head lock. "How's my favoritest little brother?"

"Reno you freak! Lemme go!" Okibi demanded before he succeeded in escaping the man's hold. He quickly made his way to the other side of the room—far away from the man—with a dark scowl on his face.

Roxas watched this with an amused smirk. He liked this 'Reno' person—even if he was related to Okibi.

"Is that anyway to talk to your lovable older brother?" Reno demanded as Okibi glared daggers. He suddenly seemed to notice that Okibi wasn't the only new person in the apartment. "Oh look! You've brought friends! Larxene! Larxene! What should we do with them?"

The blonde woman glanced at Reno before shrugging lazily and letting her eyes float back to the television set.

"Electrocute them?" she suggested.

"Hi!" Sora exclaimed brightly, seeming unable to keep quiet any longer. "I'm Sora! I like your goggles. You're Axel's brother, right? I'm glad you're here, 'cause Axel said that you'd be at work. Wanna be friends?"

Roxas sighed, shaking his head at his brother, but Reno just laughed.

"I am the amazing, awesome, super-talented Reno Okibi," he said. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Humble shit hole is more like it," Roxas heard Okibi mutter.

"He's cute, Ax. Where'd you get him?" Reno asked, plopping down onto the blonde woman's legs. She growled and kicked him off, so he made himself comfortable on the floor.

"I thought you were into blonds," Reno continued, acting as if nothing had happened.

Roxas narrowed his eyes, as did Okibi and Kuwairo. He shot Kuwairo a dirty look, desperately wishing he could throw another apple at him. Sora was staring at the TV with an intense look of concentration on his face; he'd missed the entire exchange. Enpitsu had positioned herself on the floor and was sketching the pile of coffee cups. The blonde woman pressed a button on the remote, changing the channel, and breaking Sora's concentration.

"Like Sora would even _consider_ going out with _that_," Roxas said, insulted.

"What?" Sora said, confused. Kuwairo shook his head at him.

"Nothing important," the silver-haired boy said. "I'm Riku and that's Namine," he told Reno, getting the introductions over with.

"What are you doing here Reno?" Okibi asked, exasperated, as Kuwairo and Sora claimed spots on the floor. Okibi headed towards the kitchen. "Don't you two have jobs you need to be at or something?"

"I called in sick," Reno said, waving a hand lazily, "and Larx works the night shift."

"You don't look sick," Sora said. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"'Cause he's not," the ghost said.

"That's 'cause I'm not," Reno explained.

Okibi entered the living room again, this time with his arms full of food. He dropped the food in the middle of the floor, and accidentally knocked a coffee cup off of the table. This caused a sort of domino effect, and within seconds the floor near the couch was covered in coffee cups. Enpitsu sighed in disappointment and closed her sketchbook.

"Toss me a Twinkie, Ax," Reno said.

Okibi shot him a glare and picked up a Twinkie. Roxas raised his eyebrows as he saw the Twinkie fly through the air at high speeds before hitting Reno in the middle of his face. There was a moment of silence before Okibi snorted and Sora burst into peals of laughter.

"My face!" Reno cried dramatically, covering his face. "It's ruined! Axel, how could you?! Don't look at me! DON'T LOOK AT ME!"

Roxas watched, slightly stunned, as the man ran out of the room, covering his face. He noticed that he'd managed to keep hold of the Twinkie the entire time.

"What?" Enpitsu asked as the silence in the room stretched on for just a little too long.

"Hi!" Sora said happily, turning his attention to the blonde woman, who had changed the channel yet again. "I'm Sora! Who're you?"

"Get out of my way, freak," the woman growled, eyes narrowed.

Roxas bit back a groan as he saw Hurt Expression #15 flicker across his brother's face. This expression could be loosely translated as 'I knew it was too good to be true, I should never have gotten my hopes up.' With a sigh, Roxas realized that no one, with the exception of Siefer (whom Roxas had plans for), had been mean to his brother since they'd left Destiny Islands.

Kuwairo and Okibi seemed to have noticed Sora's expression as well, as Kuwairo narrowed his eyes, and Okibi-

"Don't be such a bitch, Larxene," Okibi snapped. "Don't worry about her, Sora. She's like that to everyone."

Larxene looked like she was about to respond, but everyone in the room was distracted as the TV screen turned to static. The noise was almost unbearable. Roxas pulled his hand out of the TV with a bland expression on his face. Sora frowned at him and he smiled as innocently as he could manage.

Reno made his grand re-appearance by tripping rather spectacularly over his own two feet and, as he was flailing his arms gracefully, his head intercepted the remote that Larxene had chucked at the TV set.

"Hey! You're crushing the food!" Okibi exclaimed.

From his position on the floor, Reno rubbed his head and looked accusingly at the blonde woman.

"Did you break the TV again?" he asked, sitting up.

The woman shot him a venomous look and stormed out of the room. Dramatic exits seemed to be a trend here, Roxas noted. Reno turned the TV off and began to eat a slightly squashed cup cake. Sora looked confused.

"Who is that?" he asked Reno.

"Who?" Reno asked.

"That lady."

What lady?"

"Larxene," Sora frowned.

"What about her?"

"Who is she?"

"Who is who?"

Roxas sighed. This could go on for a very long time. Okibi seemed to realize this as well, because he let out an exasperated sigh and interrupted his brother mid-sentence.

"She's just some girl that lives here, Sora," he said. Sora was still confused.

"So…she's dating Reno?" he guessed, only to be met with twin laughs from Reno and Okibi.

"Why the hell would I date _her?_ She's insane! I may associate with insane nutjobs-"

"Seeing as you are one," Okibi interrupted.

"But that doesn't mean I'd _date_ one. Sheesh."

Sora was still not sure about the odd relationship, or lack there of, but didn't question it further, choosing instead to change the subject.

"So, how long have you lived here?" Sora asked Reno who had grabbed a soda off of the ground and sat on the couch.

"Ax and I moved here about seven years ago, after our parents died, and Larx started coming over about three years ago, for reasons unknown."

"Your parents died?" Sora blurted out, shocked. His eyes widened suddenly as he realized what he'd said and a regretful look crossed his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-I mean, I-I-"

"Don't worry about it," Reno laughed. Okibi had a carefully blank look on his face. "It was awhile ago. We're over it, right Ax?"

"Right," Okibi said in a tone that implied that he was not, in fact, 'over it.'

"You wanna know what happened, then?" Reno asked. Sora's face flushed and he shook his head.

"Reno," Okibi growled a warning.

"No, it's okay, I-" Sora said.

Roxas noticed Kuwairo and Enpitsu exchange a worried glance and watched impassively from his spot in the corner.

"No, really, it's okay," Reno waved his hand lazily. "It was winter some years ago, and they were going to pick up Axel from the park. They hit some ice and ended up in the lake. Our mom didn't know how to swim and our dad tried to drag her to the surface, but it didn't work out too well. Afterwards I managed to get myself recognized as an adult by the law and got custody of my baby brother. Of course, he could explain what actually happened better than I can, he saw it happen, after all."

Roxas felt a pang of _something_. He scowled when he recognized it as pity and pushed the emotion away. Sora turned his wide eyes on Axel, who stood up and headed to the door.

"I need some air," the red-head muttered, and stood up. Roxas watched with a frown as he slammed the apartment door behind him. Dramatic exits really _were_ popular here.

"Is he—I mean, I d-d-didn't—" Sora stuttered out. Reno waved his hand again.

"Don't worry about it," he repeated. "So, wanna hear a story?"

As Reno began his story, Roxas floated over to the door, floating through his brother in the process. As he did, he felt a wave of energy wash over him before disappearing. He frowned, but decided to forget it.

"Sora, I'm gonna go…explore," Roxas said, not waiting for an answer before he floated out of the apartment.

It didn't take him long to track down the Seer. The red-head was stomping down a hallway one floor down, muttering profanities under his breath. Roxas paused upon spotting him, unsure of how to proceed. Why was he even there in the first place? Finally he just decided that while he was here, a prank would be appreciated. It would take Okibi's mind off of his deceased parents, at least.

"I thought I told you to stay away from Sora Hikari," Roxas growled.

Okibi spun around, startled, and his eyes widened comically upon spotting the ghost. Roxas felt his eyes widen as well, realizing that the Seer could actually see him, as well as hear him. He checked his shield desperately, only to find that it was gone. He tried pulling it back up, but it didn't work. He bit back a string of profanities as he realized that the surge of energy he'd felt before must have been his shield faltering.

"Ghost," Okibi said with forced calm. "What exactly do you want with Sora?"

Roxas quickly tried to recall everything Zexion and Demyx had told the Seers. He couldn't remember anything at all. Deciding to make it up as he went, he smiled as disconcertingly as possible. Hopefully he looked deranged.

"Well, if I told you that it wouldn't be much of a secret," he told the Seer. Okibi looked at him suspiciously.

"So, why aren't you trying to kill me?" he asked. Roxas blinked at the little girl who tugged on Okibi's pants. How she'd manage to sneak up on them was beyond him.

"Mister?" the little girl asked. "Why are you talking to the wall?"

"Because I can!" Okibi snapped at the little girl. "If I want to talk to inanimate objects then, _by God_, I WILL!"

The little girl looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes. Okibi, seeing that she wasn't about to leave yet, bellowed the word 'BOO' and the little girl ran off with a squeak. Roxas cocked an eyebrow at the fuming red head.

"Well, that was nice," he commented. Okibi narrowed his eyes.

"State your business and leave, Ghost," the Seer snapped.

"And what are you going to do if I don't?" Roxas demanded confidently. "Use your _powers_?"

Roxas stared at Okibi in confusion at his reaction to this. The boy's face paled drastically and he seemingly unconsciously took a step back. His jaw clenched and his eyes hardened.

"What do you want?" He repeated himself calmly.

Honestly, Roxas had no idea what he wanted or why he was even still there. His original plan had been to prank Okibi, which he supposed he was doing, although it wasn't working out the way he'd thought it would. Still, he couldn't exactly just float through the floor or something. What kind of impression would that leave? The blond realized that already he probably wasn't emitting the typical evil ghost vibe, and didn't want to injure his feeble façade any further.

"What are your plans for Sora Hikari?" Roxas demanded suddenly. "I will give you this one warning: if he comes to harm, you and the others will be my first suspects."

"What?" Okibi asked, gobsmacked. "What do you mean 'if he comes to harm'?! _You're_ the one trying to hurt him in the first place!" Okibi's eyes widened, as though he realized something. "He has your Anchor, doesn't he? That's why you-"

"You stupid Seer," Roxas interrupted. "Of course he doesn't have my Anchor. It's safely hidden away where no one will ever find it. Now, think about it, what could a ghost possibly want with a human? Hmm? Come on, I was led to believe that you were intelligent."

Okibi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What is the one thing that every ghost wants?" Roxas asked, thinking back to the conversation the ghosts had held back on the Islands.

Before Okibi had a chance to even think about answering, a loud voice called "AXEL!" from the other end of the hallway. Sora came barreling down the hallway. Roxas cocked an eyebrow and smirked at the Seer before his brother ran through him. As Sora ran through him, he felt his shield come back up. That worked out better than he'd planned.

Turning around, he saw the shocked, anxious faces of the other two Seers as they quickly neared Sora and Okibi. They must have glimpsed him before his brother had brought his shields back up.

Sora was babbling about some story Reno had told them and how Larxene had tried to electrocute the man for being too loud. Okibi gave him a forced smile and glanced at the other two Seers. Sora noticed this and shot Roxas a suspicious look. Roxas shrugged at his brother, who rolled his eyes and turned to Kuwairo, who had started speaking.

"Let's just," his voice sounded strained, "head back to school, okay?"

AWRIKU'SUNDERSTRESSPOORHIM

"Thanks mister bus driver man!" Sora shouted cheerfully to their bus driver, who gave him an odd look but waved all the same as the group got off the bus. Sora looked around as he hopped down to land on the frost covered grass outside the school, seeing many other students get off the bus behind him, Riku, Namine, and Axel. Apparently, visiting Hollow Bastion was very popular. He turned to the three as they all got off behind him.

"So guys, what do you wanna do now?" Sora asked, but Axel seemed to be hurriedly whispering something to the other two Seers. They looked up at his question.

"Uh, we're sorry, Sora, but we need to go back to our room for a bit to, um, discuss something important. Didn't you say you needed to pick up something from your math teacher, anyway?" Namine said, and Sora, though a little upset to find himself left out of a secret conversation, paled immediately upon her reminding him and nodded.

"Oh, right! I forgot! I'll see you guys later! I gotta go get it before three! That was when Vincent said he'd leave! Bye!" Sora said as he turned and ran towards the school, hearing three "byes" from behind him. Roxas zoomed along to follow his brother, who slowed to a walk once he entered the building.

"Hey, Roxas, do you know anything about what they need to talk about? Hey, you weren't talking to Axel back at Reno's apartment, were you?" Sora confronted his brother, eyes narrowing as Roxas put on a look of innocence.

"Just messin' around. It's nothing."

"Do you think they suspect something? That's gotta be what they're talking about, right? Are you sure you didn't do anything suspicious?" Sora asked, eyes still narrowed. Roxas shook his head, but looked a little nervous.

"Of course not. At least... I hope not."

Sora frowned, but continued to walk to the math office, where Vincent said he'd be. Sora had realized last night while doing his homework that he'd left his calculator in the classroom. He was about to go get it then, but remembered that Vincent wouldn't be there, anyway. Seeing his brother in a frenzied panic, Roxas reminded his brother that Vincent said he came in on Saturdays for whatever reason, but left at three. The current time was 2:50.

Sora, who had slowed to a walk, was reminded of the time when Roxas idly pointed to a clock hanging from the ceiling. Sora's eyes widened, and he started to run, but was stopped by Roxas.

"Hey, Sora, I think I'm gonna go see what they're talking about. Make sure they aren't figuring anything out, ya know? I'll meet you at the dorm later," he said, but Sora wasn't listening, bouncing up and down nervously.

"Okaysurewhatevergottagobye!" Sora said in a rush, the darted off again. He heard his brother laugh, then was gone.

Sora, after scaling four flights of stairs, glanced at the clock once more, noticing that he had only wasted a minute on the steps. Pausing momentarily to catch his breath, he jogged down the hall, and then hit himself in the forehead, realizing he had gone up too many levels.

Sora continued to run, resisting the urge to peek into his crazy chemistry teacher's classroom when he noticed the familiar long blond hair in the door's window as he rushed by. Flying down the stairs and bypassing the impulse to slide down the banister now that Roxas wasn't around, Sora made his way down the math hallway.

"Crap, crap, he's gonna be gone, I know it, I won't be able to finish my homework and get in huge trouble, he's gonna suck my blood, Yuffie can't protect me, crap, crap, crap!" Sora chanted as he panted out breaths, racing down the hall. Caught up in his whispered ranting, the brunet only noticed he had collided with someone once he was blown backwards, landing on his butt.

"Oww..." Sora whined, one hand on his head, the other on his aching butt. He blinked the spots out of his vision, briefly glimpsing vibrant yellow eyes and silver hair reminiscent of Riku's for a moment before closing his eyes as his got to his feet.

"I am so, so, so, sorry, sir! I swear I didn't see you there, I would have never run into you if I had! Well, I guess I wouldn't have run into you anyway, that kinda makes it sound like I intentionally ran into you which I didn't! I swear I'm innocent! I-I mean, sorry again! How can I make it up to you, Mr...?" Sora asked in a nervous rush. The man looked at him coolly, and Sora took that brief opportunity to examine him.

He was very intimidating, but Sora was mostly used to the look by now, seeing as the majority of his teachers looked equally frightening. He had long, silver hair with bangs around his face, slightly tanned skin and bright, yellow eyes. All Sora could see of his outfit was a black trench coat. Sora gulped as the man frowned at him.

"Xemnas. And you are...?"

"I'm Sora!" Sora replied quickly, spluttering out his response. "Sora Hikari! Oh, and I think you're my guidance counselor!"

Busy pondering the fact that a man so intimidating could be a guidance counselor of all professions, Sora missed the flash of recognition in Xemnas's eyes once Sora mentioned his name. When the sophomore drew his attention back to the man, he was giving the boy a very eerie smile that made Sora shudder involuntarily.

"Yes, I do believe I recall getting the new exchange student on my case load. Well, Sora, I do hope to see you soon," the man said in a cool, seemingly friendly voice. Sora grinned, glad to have gotten on the man's good side.

"Hopefully not, though, right? Haha, so, um..." Sora's grin melted into a nervous frown, "you... You aren't mad? About me running into you?"

Xemnas waved his gloved hand, keeping the eerie grin on his face. "It's nothing, these things happen. But there is a reason behind the "no running in the halls" rule, you know," he scolded, and Sora nodded furiously, wringing his hands together.

"Thank you so much for understanding, Mr...Um... Xenmas!"

Sora turned away before he could see the thin, silver eyebrow twitch in aggravation. "It's Xemnas," the counselor said, and Sora turned back around, laughing nervously.

"Oh, r-right. Oh my gosh, it's two minutes 'til three! It was nice meeting you, sorry, again, bye!" Sora called out, rushing past the teacher to get to his math room, missing the smirk and evil glint in Xemnas' eye.

OHSORAYOU'RESUCHADOOFUS

"Thanks again, Vincent! I promise I won't forget my calculator ever again!" Sora exclaimed in relief to the stoic man. Said man made no inclination that he even heard this comment, cool gaze focused on the book in front of him, but as Sora left he could have sworn he heard him mutter,

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Sighing in relief as he shut the door behind him, Sora gripped the calculator with all his might, determined to never let it go. He bounced cheerfully down the stairs, bright grin spread across his face.

As Sora reached the first floor, his mind had wandered to other topics. Such as what Roxas and Axel had been talking about at Reno's apartment.

"I hope they didn't figure anything out... Though maybe things would be easier if they knew some crazy ghost wasn't trying to kill me," Sora said to himself, forgetting that people could possibly be around to hear him. He shook his head, smiling softly.

"Nah, it has been pretty fun, fooling them all. We'll keep at it. Yay!" Sora continued to say to himself in the empty halls, ignorant of others that may be (but fortunately weren't) near by. As he turned the corner, Sora heard some familiar shouting coming from down the hall. Curious, Sora silently jogged closer to the door.

"...I can't believe you would tell students that! Now what will they think of me?"

"What, worried about your reputation as the resident broody bastard being ruined?"

"I think you're confusing my non-existent reputation with yours. I can't begin to comprehend how you can be the cause of so damn many negative emotions all the time!"

"What the hell is that supposed to-"

Sora gasped as he recognized the two loud voices as his English and History teachers. Quickly running so his back was pressed up against the wall, in the small space between the lockers and the door frame, He held his breath, continuing to listen to the argument.

"What I can't understand is what gives you of all people the right to tell a bunch of simple-minded teenagers something that should be kept secret!"

"Well, I still think you should have been the one to teach them! It is history, after all."

"Not the kind of history they need to know!"

"Really, Leon, it's not as if I blabbed it to the entire school! I just told one class, and at the end of the day, when no one pays attention anymore, at that."

"You know kids, Cloud; the entire fucking school is going to know if they didn't already by Monday! I can't believe you would tell them that everything...everything..." Leon seemed to trail off, apparently so furious he couldn't continue.

"That everything what? That everything in town is named after you? That your father practically owns everything manufactured in this and the surrounding cities, and named the products and companies after you? Well, I guess your great-grandfather, but still. That's nothing to be ashamed of, Squall."

"Don't fucking call me that!"

Sora heard a loud "thunk" from inside the room, and gasped as the door was flung open, nearly crushing him. Backing into the wall further, he could only hear as Leon stormed off. Sora took a deep, shaking breath, pushing the door carefully away from him.

_I can't believe all the Squall stuff is named after my teacher! That's so cool!_ Sora thought, and then frowned, wondering why Leon disagreed. Pondering this, he stepped out of the small area he was in, trying to push the door shut without it being obvious.

Finally managing to make himself unnoticeable to Cloud, who was still in the room, Sora gave the English class a quick peek. His heart plummeted at what he saw.

Cloud was staring at the ground, arms dangling loosely at his sides. He seemed so sad, so lost to Sora, who never liked to see people so sorrowful. As Cloud's eyes looked his way, Sora quickly dove around to the other side of the door, out of the window's range, but not before seeing Cloud's expression of longing. The Seer bit his lip, thinking, before smiling brightly. He started to lightly jog towards the door leading outside as he formulated his plan.

_Cloud must be in love with Leon, there's no other reason he would look that way! I have to set them up! Oh, they'll be so happy together, I can't wait!/_Sora thought cheerfully as he pushed the door to the outside open, running to his dorm. He planned on filling in his brother with all the details right away.

TSKTSKALWAYSJUMPINGTOCONCLUSIONS

_Sora doesn't need to know the details of this yet_, Roxas thought to himself as he floated through the hallways. _I'll figure out what conclusions the idiot Seers are jumping to, tweak the plan a bit, and then tell him._ Having successfully convinced himself that this was the right course of action, he allowed a small smirk to flicker across his face. This prank was far more entertaining than he had though it would be.

"Stupid cats." A growl reached the boy's ears and his smirk turned into a frown. That voice sounded a little bit familiar, though he couldn't place where he'd heard it before.

Backtracking, Roxas turned a corner and found himself face to face with a rather intimidating ghost. He was tall(er than Roxas, which wasn't really saying much), had long blue hair, yellow eyes, and an X shaped scar marring his face.

"Who the hell are you?" Roxas blurted, shocked at running into another ghost. Including himself, that made four ghosts hanging around the school.

The other ghost stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed, and Roxas felt as though he was being judged, somehow. He narrowed his eyes in return and decided that he did not like this ghost at all.

"Saix," the ghost said. "And you are?"

"Roxas," said boy replied, eyes still narrowed. "I haven't seen you here before." It came out a little bit more accusingly than he had planned.

"I haven't run into you, either," the other ghost pointed out. He sounded bored. "Then again, I haven't been here long."

Roxas frowned at him. It really was strange that so many Seers and ghosts were in the same place… Especially since that place happens to be a boarding school. Living through school once was enough for most people, Roxas figured, and no one (with the exception of Zexion and Demyx, who both had an excuse) would want to hang out at one during their after-life. There must be some reason for all the ghosts to be gathering here.

Roxas was about to mention the odd gathering of ghosts to the yellow-eyed man and gauge his reaction, when the man spoke. Roxas realized that he must have been silent for some time while he was thinking.

"You seem familiar," Saix said. Roxas raised an eyebrow, used to this reaction from ghosts he hadn't met.

"Yeah, well, you've probably heard of me," he said. Every ghost knew of his existence, and he really tried not to let it go to his head.

Saix cocked an eyebrow in return before speaking.

"You're the ghost who ages," he concluded. Roxas mimed clapping.

"Yes, yes, gold star for you," he said with an eye roll.

"I'd thought that was just a story," the man continued, ignoring his comment. "But apparently not. Roxas, was it? Roxas…" the man stared hard at him, "Hikari?"

Roxas froze.

"How do you know that?" He demanded.

"A lucky guess," the other ghost said casually. "Your brother, Sora, is another interesting story that ghosts tell each other, but you probably didn't know that. You aren't very well liked among the dead, are you? Unlike your brother. A Seer who befriends ghosts? It's unheard of." His tone was slightly mocking, and Roxas had a feeling he was missing something.

Saix started to flicker away. "I bid you farewell. Perhaps we'll run into each other in Neverwas."

"Wait!" Roxas cried, but he'd already disappeared. Grumbling to himself, Roxas scowled. He could have appeared anywhere in Neverwas. There was no way for him to track the strange ghost down and demand answers.

Sighing, the ghost continued on his way to the boy's dorm, and quickly found himself in the middle of the male Seers' room. He glanced around with pride. It still looked like a disaster area.

Floating to the side of the room, Roxas took in the scene before him. Enpitsu had placed herself on Okibi's bed and was looking around at the mess with a rather interested expression, Kuwairo lay on the other bed with a frown marring his face, and Okibi had stretched out on the floor and was glaring at the ceiling. There was a tense silence in the room. Enpitsu was the one who broke it.

"So," Enpitsu said slowly, closing her sketchbook and tearing her eyes away from the papers scattered about the room, "the ghost doesn't want to hurt Sora."

"Right," Okibi said, his voice hard. "Instead he has 'plans' for him."

Kuwairo sighed. "What was it he said again?"

"'What is the one thing that every ghost wants?'" Okibi quoted blandly as his expression morphed into a scowl. "What the hell could that mean?"

Another silence descended upon them. Roxas watched, interested, as they thought. He was curious as to what they would come up with, and if they would be even close to what he'd been thinking about when he'd spoken to Okibi. He probably should tell the ghosts from the Islands thank you if he ever ran into them in Neverwas, as they'd been the ones who had given him the idea in first place. Ella wouldn't be very happy that she'd unwittingly helped in a prank.

"Life," Enpitsu finally said. "That's what I would want, if I were dead; to be alive again. That's why people become ghosts in the first place, right? Because they don't want to die?"

Okibi sat up suddenly with a stunned look on his face.

"Life?" Kuwairo said, his tone indicating that he was worried. "That's…"

"Not good," Okibi finished for him, serious. "There's no way that this ghost could use Sora to bring himself back to life. It's not possible. Dead things don't come back to life."

Enpitsu pursed her lips, and Roxas narrowed his eyes at her. She knew something; he could tell. Or maybe it wasn't that she _knew_ but that she was figuring something out. Whether or not it was the truth that she was close to uncovering, Roxas didn't know.

Enpitsu's eyes flitted to where he was positioned before she lowered her eyes to her sketchbook, and Roxas felt his eyes widen. There was no way that she could see him, he was sure, but re-checked his shield anyway. Then how had she—

"Possession," Kuwairo stated.

It had to have been a fluke, Roxas convinced himself, calming down and rolling his eyes at himself and at Kuwairo's suggestion.

"No," Okibi said, frowning. "He could use anyone for possession, and it doesn't bring him back to life. And possession is easy; all he'd have to do is wait until Sora fell asleep, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't been wandering around the halls at night."

"The ghost would have done it by now," Enpitsu concluded. "And Sora hasn't been showing any signs of post-possession, as far as I'm aware."

"Well what, then? What's he planning?" Kuwairo was frustrated, and Roxas shot him a glare. "And _why_ would he drop hints to Axel about it?"

No one had any answers (besides Roxas, and watching the Seers' sad attempts to figure out what was going on was far to fun to give into his brother's suggestion of letting them know the truth) and Enpitsu sighed before she stood up and began making her way to the door.

"I guess that means that we need to talk to Zexion and Demyx, then," She said.

The other two Seers nodded their agreement, and they left. Roxas found himself trying to decide if he should follow them and coach Zexion and Demyx on what to say, or if he should meet up with his brother. Recalling Mr. Hobo, Roxas sighed and made his way to his brother's room. It really wasn't a good idea to leave Sora unattended for long periods of time.

When he floated through the door of Sora's room, he was met with his brother's excited only centimeters from his own. He was speaking quickly and Roxas found himself far too lazy to decipher Sora-speak at the moment.

"Slow down, Sora," Roxas said, rolling his eyes at his brother. "I have stuff to tell you, too, and all I got out of that was 'Cloud wants Leon.' Please tell me you're forgetting words in your sentences again."

"Oh, shut up," Sora said, flopping down on his bed, and staring at his brother. "We're going to set up Cloud and Leon."

Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"And why exactly are we going to do this?" He asked.

"Well," said Sora, "here's what happened…"

ANDTHUSTHECHAPTERENDSWHOO


	9. Chapter Axel

**Author's notes (wow, haven't done that in a while):**

**Outkast Angel: **To the three people who are still reading this... we apologize.

**NiffStral: **There are no words to express how sorry we are about the... uh... fourmonthdelay -mumbles-

**OA: **On the up side, we have the plot all planned out! It'll be around 25-30 or so chapters.

**Niff: **That's still hardly an excuse for the incredibly long wait, though.

**OA: **We also have a map of the school! 'Tis what we do in Latin class.

**Niff: **Along with write certain scenes together. -cough-lunch-cough-

**OA: **Anyways... Since this is chapter eight (Axel FTW), this is a special, plottless chapter. It's pretty much just Roxas pranking everyone. Yay!

**Niff: **Disclaimer: Despite our absense, we have not found a way to get the rights for Kingdom Hearts and everything relating to it. Also, the discussion in Latin actually happened. Our class is crazy fun.

**OA: **Yay Latin!

**Niff: **Thanks to _everyone _who reviewed. You make getting chapters out a lot quicker, trust us. And, as always (as of now, anyway), DFTBA. (If you get that I love you.)

**PICTURE OF THE SCHOOL: **http : // niffstral . deviantart . com / art / Skool – from – TMTACFT – 121688075 (remove the spaces)

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_Dun dun dada dun dun dada-_

A hand flew out and swatted the alarm, cutting off the noise. Sora groaned, sitting up in his bed, tired eyes blinking. Once they were fully opened, they narrowed into a glare directed at the ghost in front of him, whose smirk was far too innocent.

"Roxas," he began slowly, "why did you change my alarm clock to play the Mission: Impossible theme song?"

Roxas kept his angelic smile as he responded, "No particular reason."

Groaning for the second time that morning (a new record; it had been less than a minute), Sora fell back into bed, pulling his covers over his head. "This day's not gonna be easy for them, is it?"

Roxas cackled in response.

_**Namine: Attempt One**_

Whistling, Sora walked into his art classroom, with Roxas, trailing along behind him, smirking, as he had been doing all morning. Sora was worried: he had met up with Riku and Axel earlier that morning, but his brother had said and done nothing, only smirked that infuriating smirk, and plotted. Roxas may not have told him anything outright, but Sora could tell. The pranks were coming.

The brunet looked over at Namine, who, upon noticing his entrance, looked up and waved at him. Sora smiled and waved back, making his way over to his desk. Taking off his backpack and pulling out his chair, he glanced over at his brother, who was staring intently at the female Seer.

"You better not do anything too dangerous, Rox'," Sora whispered, turning his head to stare at the table top. He was worried that the ghost would let his prejudices get away from him, and his pranks would be a bit too threatening to the girl Sora now called his friend. Roxas simply laughed, waving his worries aside.

"Please, Sora, I would _never _hurt people, even if they are sad excuses for human beings, always butting in, being so very frustrating all the freaking time, making this so much harder than they should-"

"Roxas!"

"What?" Roxas blinked himself out of his rant. "Oh, sorry."

"No hurting people!" Sora ordered, wagging his finger. Turning back around, he blanched as he noticed Namine staring at him in confusion.

"Sora? Were you.. are you alright? You were, um, talking to yourself... again."

Sora and Roxas exchanged nervous glances.

"I... uh... that's just... my- oh, look, class is starting!"

Saved from having to come up with an excuse, Sora looked over at Lexaeus, who had given his customary throat clearing that signaled that start of class. He kept his gaze forward as he heard Seifer sit next to him.

"You will be painting. Materials in the back. Turn in your picture at the end of the period. Go." Lexaeus announced to them, then promptly pulled out his gigantic book and put his full attention to reading. More or less used to this, Sora got up and went to get paper and painting supplies, noticing out of the corner of his eye Namine somehow had hers already out and was letting her brush glide across the page.

Roxas, unfortunately for the girl, noticed this as well.

Smirking, Roxas glided over to the Seer, scanning the area for weapons. His gaze stopping on the small paint bins and cup of water in front of her. Concentrating on moving them as little as possible, he waited patiently for her to look away.

Roxas didn't have to wait long, as the girl seemed to have spotted something to the right of her. Seizing the opportunity, he rose the green, excited about getting her nice white uniform covered in gunk. Without a second thought, he tilted the can and made it zoom directly towards the unsuspecting girl.

"There's my pencil..." Roxas heard Enpitsu muttered, bending over in her seat to retrieve her pencil that had fallen on the floor. The ghost blanched as the paint kept on zooming, and he squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see what it would crash into and surely break.

"Ah! What the fuck, man!"

Blinking cautiously, Roxas looked up and saw Seifer drenched in green, covering his face and going all down his shirt to settle on his lap. Taking a moment to process this, his laughter that followed was drowned out by the classes similar reaction. Enpitsu and Sora were, he noticed when he wasn't wiping the non-existent tears from his eyes, the only ones who weren't laughing uproariously, instead staring, wide-eyed, at Seifer. Sora turned to him, a questioning look on his face, and Roxas nodded. He sighed in relief as a large smile broke out on his brother's face. Enpitsu, on the other hand, frowned, narrowing her eyes. Roxas glared back at her, though not willing to take down his shield.

Lexaeus, finally acknowledging the fact that no one was working, took that moment to stand, making his chair crash on the ground next to him, and glare at the suddenly silent class.

"Back to work!" He shouted, and they all complied without a second's thought. Seifer grumbled and stormed out of the room to the bathroom.

Collecting himself, Roxas winked at his brother, who, he was upset to find, did not notice, having gone back to work. Roxas crossed his arms, but went back over to Enpitsu nonetheless to look for more ideas.

Half an hour later, the ghost was very disappointed. Enpitsu seemed to have caught on to his scheme after the first attempt, and Sora was not willing to help no matter how many times Roxas bugged him about it. He had managed to get Seifer a few times, but the bully had gone to blaming Sora for everything and his vengeance was not mild, so he was forced to go back to Enpitsu. Glancing up at the clock, he decided to go for one final attempt that period.

"Hey, Sora, do you need anything from the back? I'm going to grab some more supplies." Roxas heard the Seer say to his brother, who shook his head.

"No tha- Hey!" Sora's response was cut short as he was violently shoved aside by Seifer, who violently shoved him as he got up and began to head to the back of the room. Roxas vowed to make him suffer... After Enpitsu. She was overdue.

As he watched the girl walk past the large pile of various art supplies, he made his move. Quickly pulling on a large piece of wood, he chuckled as the pile started to rumble and fall, heading straight for Enpitsu's little blonde head. In his glee, he missed her tiny smirk, and her hand dart out to shove the pile back.

"Outta my way, loser, I gotta-Wah!"

There was a very loud crash, and Roxas watched in awe and disbelief as Enpitsu _somehow _managed to miss the landslide, but make it instead land on the unsuspecting Seifer, who was currently trapped underneath tablets and cans and a large amount of dry clay.

Before the entire class, who had turned around to witness this occur, could get up, Lexaeus stood, metaphorical storm clouds circling his head.

"I-"

"_Ring!"_

Lexaeus' rage was cut short with the ringing of the bell, ending class. The students, who cared more about leaving the room than seeing what had happened, rushed out, Enpitsu innocently following along as she headed back to her seat, grabbed her bag, and left the room with a smile and Sora, who blinked cluelessly but waved back nonetheless. Roxas fumed, shaking a fist.

"That girl... Will suffer."

Sora sighed.

_**Mission: Failed**_

_**Namine: Attempt Two**_

Roxas was getting slightly desperate. Nothing he'd tried had worked on the female Seer in anyway. He was beginning to suspect that she was psychic. Or just really, really lucky.

Latin was an odd affair. The ghost boy tried dropping things on her. He tried tripping her. He drew in her sketchbook (on a blank page, admittedly. He wasn't cruel.) and he even tried to make a poster fall off the wall and onto her. Somehow she evaded his every attempt, unwittingly, it seemed, which only frustrated the ghost further.

"I don't get it," the ghost moaned pathetically to his brother as the brunet stared off into space, paying no attention to the presentation a students was giving at the front of the room. "She ducks, or steps aside, or even just flat out ignores me. When I was drawing she started to help! What's her deal? Do I have to rattle chains? Make a knife float? Sink to the level of tying her freaking shoe laces together?"

As Sora grunted, a clear sign that his mind was elsewhere, Roxas glanced at the Seers shoes and hated himself for a moment for feeling disappointed that they didn't actually have laces. Not really caring that his twin wasn't actually paying him any attention, he continued to think out loud.

"Should I just give up? Admit that maybe, possibly, there is a person out there that I can't beat?" He cried dramatically, feeling a wave of despair wash over him as Enpitsu smiled at the presentation.

"So then he was javelined in the groin," the presenter was saying. The ghost blinked, but otherwise payed this no mind.

"But I've pranked ghosts!" Roxas continued. "I pranked Xigbar! Do you know how hard that was? He's the leader of Neverwas, and I managed to prank him. Multiple times. A tiny little Seer girl shouldn't be able to beat me!"

When all he got out of his brother was another grunt, Roxas felt himself give in to defeat. Perhaps the girl was immune to physical pranks, but he and his brother were already pranking her, right? He could settle with that. For now. The ghost turned his full attention to his brother and made his announcement.

"I can't do it anymore, Sora," he said. "It's just... to difficult. I'll have to switch my focus to the other two."

Sora seemed to snap out of his trance at this point, but still paid no attention to his brother. Roxas would probably have been insulted by this, had the conversation taking place not attracted his attention as well.

"He was just having a really bad day," a girl was saying. "I mean, he was killed. As were his son and his horse."

"And his groin," Roxas added and was rewarded with an odd look from his brother and a quiet laugh from Enpitsu. Roxas froze, checked his shields, and threw one of them up full force.

How much had she heard?

"Just leave it, Rox. It doesn't matter." Sora mumbled as the class applauded. "You can get her some other time."

Roxas simply shook his head, staring at the girl intently as she kept her gaze trained on another student who was about to begin presenting whatever it was the class was supposed to be taking notes on. Sora sighed and closed his eyes once more.

"Book eleven of The Aeneid begins with..." The new student was saying, but Roxas was beyond paying attention. Looking up, he spotted some project hanging from the ceiling by a very loose rope. He smirked and slowly and quietly went up to snap the rope.

About thirty seconds into this, however, Enpitsu's far too sensitive ears caught the noise, and she looked up, glaring at a spot close to Roxas- too close to his liking. He yelled in aggravation, but, as his shields were up, no one heard but Sora who was conked out.

"_No one_ is that damn perceptive! Sheesh!" Roxas said to himself, floating back down. Still grumbling, he glanced up at the chalkboard in boredom, and blinked at the various stick people and cities drawn and crossed out that appeared there. Maybe he should pay attention in class...

Roxas sighed. _Oh, well, _he thought, _at least Kuwairo's next hour. He should be easier._

Glancing at the Seer out of the corner of his eye, the ghost bristled as he saw her give another tiny smirk. He growled, but did nothing.

_She _will _pay... Eventually._

_**Mission: Failed**_

_**Riku: Attempt One**_

Roxas was beginning to worry about his brother. Class had started ten minutes ago, and all Sora had done during that time was stare at Cloud with an intense look on his face. It was honestly starting to creep the ghost out. The last time Sora had been this focused on something he'd burned the kitchen down. Therefore, this could not end well.

But maybe, for the time being, Roxas could use Sora's current obsession (what had he been blabbering about? Unrequited love?) to his advantage. Maybe. Roxas decided to test the theory currently forming in his mind on the oblivious boy sitting next to his brother.

Roxas pushed Kuwairo's book, notebook, and backpack off of the table. This probably would not have called for much attention had the silver haired boy not began spewing profanities upon realizing that Roxas was present.

"Is there something you'd like to tell the class?" Cloud interrupted the string of curses in a monotone. Kuwairo shook his head and the class, who had been staring avidly at the break from their current boredom, returned its attention to the teacher.

Roxas was filled with a sense of accomplishment when he saw the bright blush that spread across the Seer's face. The ghost was overjoyed, however, when he realized that throughout the disruption, Sora had not once looked away from Cloud. Roxas could do as he pleased.

The ghost waited a few minutes before he further annoyed the Seer. The Junior was lazily taking notes and every so often glancing out of the corner of his eye, as if trying to catch a glimpse of his enemy. When he became too bored with waiting, Roxas floated to the boy and overlapped their hands. He then proceeded to draw several unflattering pictures of Kuwairo and his fellow Seers in his notebook. When Roxas released the pencil he noticed that Kuwairo was shaking; from fear, anger, or the chill of being 'touched' by a ghost, Roxas wasn't sure. He decided a moment later that he didn't much care.

"So if we examine what the author is trying to explain in act three about the Gift of the Goddess, with the world's ending, the only way he can be saved is through..." Cloud was saying, continuing his analysis, while glancing at Sora, who didn't lower his gaze. Roxas sighed, wondering what sort of conclusion Cloud was drawing from this behavior. Kuwairo must have noticed Sora's staring as well, as the boy nudged him in the side. Sora, luckily for Roxas, still did not snap out of his trance.

"Leave him alone,"Roxas commanded as coldly as he could manage, after lowering his shield. Kuwairo's eyes flickered about the classroom, attempting to figure out which direction it had been coming from.

Roxas grabbed the pencil that Kuwairo had set down. The boy quickly wrapped his hand around the object to stop anyone (probably Sora, Roxas figured, as he wasn't supposed to know about ghosts) from noticing it moving by itself. The ghost began to write the words 'stay away' in Kuwairo's notebook as quickly as he could. He heard the Seer clenching his teeth and decided to change his message.

"What do all ghosts want?" Roxas muttered to himself as he began scratching the words onto the paper. He thought about the answer as he wrote. Most ghosts wanted to be alive again, he assumed; or at least not be a ghost anymore. But Roxas couldn't remember being alive in the first place. He figured the only thing he was really missing was the ability to physically touch things, and as he couldn't remember ever being able to do so, he didn't know what he was missing. He told himself that he didn't care, either, as he pushed the thought of fire to the back of his mind.

Living was overrated, he thought. Ghosts couldn't get sick and couldn't get hurt. The dead didn't have to sleep and didn't have to eat. It was good to be a ghost, Roxas thought; everyone wanted the ability to be invisible, right? Especially pranksters.

Roxas didn't want to be alive. He was perfectly fine being dead.

He wrote his message once again. 'What does every ghost want?' Kuwairo growled.

"Life," the silver haired boy stated, louder than he'd intended, Roxas assumed, as a few students gave him odd looks. The bell rang and Roxas found himself scrawling the word 'death' defiantly in large letters. He didn't notice Kuwairo's face pale as he read this; the ghost's attention had turned to Cloud, who calmly asked Sora to stay after class for a moment.

Roxas glared at the Seer's back as he left the classroom, but stayed with Sora instead of following him and torturing him a little bit more. Sora had stopped looking at the teacher in favor of staring at the table. Roxas sighed, again wondering what the man had concluded. The teacher shuffled through some papers on his desk before sighing and looking at Sora, who sank down in his seat. He was probably wishing to be invisible, Roxas assumed.

"Sora, I'm sure you know what I want to talk to you about," Cloud started seriously. Roxas rose an eyebrow as Sora sank even lower; if he kept this up he would soon be under the table.

"Unfortunately this has happened before," the teacher continued. Roxas groaned as he realized Sora would likely grasp onto this piece of information and attempt to find the other potential matchmakers. "It has to stop. Teacher-student relationships are illegal and immoral. I—"

Cloud kept talking, but the ghost could hardly hear him over the sound of his laughter. Sora's face had turned the exact shade of Okibi's hair and he was stuttering gibberish. Cloud payed this no attention and continued with the lecture. After a good five minutes passed, Roxas found his laughter dying down and Sora finally remembered how to speak properly.

"I'm not interested in you!" He bellowed suddenly, setting Roxas off again. Cloud looked at Sora with a blank expression.

"Then would you care to explain why, exactly, you were staring at me the entire period?" He asked. Sora cleared his throat.

"'Cause...you're the teacher, and I don't want to fail?" The brunet tried. Cloud stared at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow. Sora broke.

"Well....IwassortofeavesdroppingonyouandLeon," Sora began in a rush. Roxas wondered if Cloud could decipher his words. "AndIsawyoulookingreallysadandit'sobviousthatyoulikehim! SoIsortofkindofmaybedecidedtotryand...set you up?" He ended the explanation with a hopeful tone, looking at the man with a sheepish smile. Cloud, however, did not seem to be amused.

"You eavesdropped on a conversation that didn't involve you at all and decided to set me up," Cloud repeated slowly. "Even though I have given no indication that I am gay or bisexual or am in anyway attracted to Leon."

"...Well, when you say it like that—"

"Am I right in assuming that you won't give this up?" Cloud interrupted.

"'Course not," Sora agreed. "I suppose it's easier now that you know, 'cause now all I have to do is focus on Leon!"

Cloud rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. Roxas, not for the first time, wondered where his brother had gotten the ability to drive people to the brink of insanity without having them resent him for it.

"Look Sora," the blonde man said. "I am going to tell you a secret. You are not allowed to tell anyone this. No one. Got it?" Sora nodded, eyes wide. "Leon and I are already dating."

Sora began stuttering out his gibberish again as Cloud ushered him out of the room. It was only Roxas and his brother at that point. Sora turned to Roxas.

"Guh?" He asked, confused.

"Of course, Sora," Roxas replied. "Of course."

_**Mission: Success**_

_**Axel: Attempt One**_

"Open your textbooks to page 407 and take notes on the next section, class." The teacher spoke, shoving his glasses further up his nose as he turned off the overhead and sat at his desk. The class responded accordingly, pulling their texts out from their backpacks.

"Yes, Mr. Oriachter," A few responded obediently, while the others merely sighed or had no visible response, being used the this format for the class. The typical noises of pages ruffling and books and notebooks being slammed onto desks masked the nearly silent sound of a ghost entering the classroom and perching on the windowsill.

Looking around at the students, most of whom had already begun to take notes, Roxas grinned as he spotted the familiar image of a ketchup-drenched porcupine sitting near the back, eyes scanning the book as he sighed once more to himself, most likely annoyed with the boring activity.

_Time for some fun._ Roxas thought to himself, gliding off the ledge as he landed and walked his ghostly body over to the redheaded Seer.

"I'm _so_ sorry about this, Okibi, but I'm afraid you just had it coming." Roxas said mockingly, crouching down to be level with the desk as he gazed at the lowered green eyes. As the eyes slid up for a split second, Roxas breathed in sharply, momentarily transfixed by the piercing gaze that could not see him.

Shaking his head, Roxas glared to himself, wondering once again why the Seer's gaze did that to him.

_Must be the eyes,_ he thought to himself, floating towards the teacher's desk. _I can sense the infuriating cruelty in them._

Having successfully reassured himself, Roxas passed through the desk and part of the teacher, who shuddered infinitesimally as the presence walked through his arm. Looking back, at Axel, who had finally decided to begin the notes, and turning towards the chalkboard, the ghost smirked.

"Time for some fun."

Quickly scanning the room to make sure no one was looking, Roxas grabbed a piece of chalk on the edge of the chalkboard. He crouched down in the corner, and as quietly as possible wrote "I'm here" in tiny lettering in the corner. Looking back over his shoulder to make sure no one caught that act, Roxas quickly made the edge very sharp, and, with as much force as he could muster, raked it over about half a foot of the board.

_Eeeeeeech!_

"Ahh!" Half the class (including the teacher) cried, covering their ears at the horrid noise. They all looked up towards the board, but could find no possible source of what could have been the sound. Mr. Oriachter stood up angrily, pounding his fists on his desk.

"Alright, settle down, settle down! It was probably just someone outside. I knew I should have shut those windows... Darn kids." He said to the class, muttering the last part angrily to himself. Glaring threateningly at the students, he stalked over to the opened windows and slammed them shut.

"Excitement's over, people, now get back to-"

"Ahh!" Someone cried out, this time only one person who pointed to Roxas's note on the corner of the board. The other students, noticing the note, let out similar cries of shock. A couple stood up, eyes wide, pacing frantically, yelling out cries of fright. The rest either sat stock still in their desks, gripping the edges tight, or rolled their eyes.

"Guys, calm down, it was probably there before and Mr. Oriachter forgot to erase it from the last class or something. Sheesh." One student said, grabbing their pencil to get back to work. Mr. Oriachter nodded in agreement.

"Y-yes, I simply didn't notice it before. It's nothing, just s-sit down and continue with your n-notes." Mr. Oriachter said in what he tried to make a reassuring manner, obviously a little freaked out himself, but not showing anything else in an attempt to comfort the students.

This seemed to work for most of the students, and the more paranoid ones sat back in their seats and shakily took up their pencils once more, but Okibi continued to stare at the message, eyes somewhat wider than usual.

"Back again, is he? Damned ghost." He muttered to himself, trailing off as Roxas, who had been watching the entire scene with amusement let his body be shown to the Seer for one split second, giving him enough time to wink at the redhead before placing his full shield around himself once more.

Okibi stood up, shoving his notebook off his table, and pointed accusingly at the corner where he had just seen Roxas.

"YOU!" He yelled out, apparently having had enough of Roxas's torment, forgetting where he was. Roxas could not stop laughing as the whole class turned their gazes towards the boy. Mr. Oriachter rose one eyebrow.

"Mr. Okibi, I understand that you're shocked over the previous incident, but that was explained, and you can't just stand up in the middle of class, yelling like a madman with no reason. Unless you see any proof of actual stranger happenings, refrain from making a fool of yourself in my classroom, if you would." Mr. Oriachter replied calmly to his student's reaction, obviously expecting something like this from Axel after the last incident.

Fuming, Axel sat down, glaring at the place Roxas was currently doubled over laughing, mouthing the words "I know you're there" to the figure which had disappeared from his view.

Regaining his composure, Roxas stood back up, and smirked at the spikey-haired, stretching out his arms.

"Time for the round two." Roxas said happily to himself, whistling as he walked over to the other side of the classroom, pulling back the already-opened cabinet drawer.

By the end of that class period, Roxas had successfully managed to have Okibi receive several threats of lunch and weekend detention, and gotten every student in class to be more annoyed with the red-head than ever. Roxas sighed in content.

_**Mission: Success**_

**LUNCHLUNCHLUNCHFOOD**

"Hey Sora, what's up? Why's your face all red?"

Sora hid his face behind his hands, looking traumatized, and shot a glare at his brother through his fingers. Said brother was laughing hysterically. Sora growled slightly and Namine, who had just walked up, looked at him strangely. Sora let his shoulders slump and his head hit the table as a groan escaped him.

"I really don't like this place," he told the table. This only caused his brother to laugh harder and Namine to pat him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"I'm sure it can't have been that bad," she said. "Want to talk about it?"

"I really, really don't," Sora replied, straightening up and looking around. "Where's Riku?"

For reasons unknown to Sora, Axel and Namine exchanged looks before they both shrugged. Sora narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Roxas.

"What?" the ghost demanded. "I didn't do anything. I was bugging Okibi last period."

Sora looked back at Axel and Namine, and adjectived when he saw the former looking at him with a knowing smirk on his face. Sora frowned.

"What?" he demanded, crossing his arms and pouting. "I didn't do anything."

Roxas sighed before he noticed a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye and a smirk twitched its way onto his face. He glanced at Sora to make sure he was distracted by the Seers (he was, of course).

"I wasn't accusing you of anything," Axel said innocently. Sora was about to reply, when--

"SHIT!"

Everyone within hearing distance turned their heads to see Riku sprawled out on the lunchroom floor, covered in his lunch.

Sora jumped up out of his seat and ran over to help the fallen boy. Axel and Namine probably would have done the same, had they not been laughing so hard.

"Oh, my god, Riku, are you okay?" Sora was in such a rush to get the words out he found himself stumbling over some of them. Riku reached up and pulled a glob of apple sauce out of his hair.

"You know, I'm really starting to hate apples," he growled, looking around the lunchroom. Most of the students had gone back to whatever they'd been doing. There was no sign of the ghost who had tripped him.

Sora ran his hands through Riku's hair, helping the junior get the food out, not noticing Roxas's horrified face or that Riku leaned into the touch with a slight smirk.

"Sora!" Roxas cried. Sora jumped back and stared at his brother with wide eyes. Neither brother noticed Namine frowning. Roxas floundered for words momentarily. "Zemyx! I-I mean, Demyx! And Zexion! We need to talk to Demy and Zexy. Right now! Let's go."

Sadly, his distraction attempts proved futile.

"You okay?" Riku asked as he stood up, picking a spaghetti noodle off his shoulder.

"Crap," Roxas muttered. "Think fast Sora."

"Uhh..." Sora replied intelligently. "Did you guys just hear someone yell my name?" He looked at Roxas with a puzzled frown and tried not to smile when he saw his brother catch on.

Roxas lowered his shields so that the Seers could only hear his voice.

"Nope," Axel said, having finally stopped laughing and made his way over to the two boys. "Sorry kid, you must be hearing things."

"SORA!" Roxas bellowed before he threw his shields back up.

"There it was again," Sora insisted, looking around. "Are you sure..."

Riku gave Sora a confused look, before switching his gaze to Axel and Namine, who were staring at Sora with slight shock. Sora nervously switched his weight from foot to foot as the silence drew out a bit longer than he would have liked. He loudly cleared his throat.

"S-so, uh, Riku, should you go get cleaned up, then?" Sora asked, staring at the floor with a very red face. From the corner of his eye, he noticed his brother covering his face and sighing. Slowly, Riku nodded, walking off to the bathroom, shooting backward glances at the other two Seers as he did so, receiving shrugs.

Walking back over to the table, Sora could have sworn he heard Namine lean into Axel, muttering something about how there might be something called "hearers." Sora blushed as Roxas burst out laughing.

"Shut up," he muttered as he sat down. Axel and Namine joined him and struck up a conversation, avoiding the subject of "hearers."

Roxas rolled his eyes at the word. Trust the idiot Seers to come up with something like that. Still, he'd assumed that Enpitsu was the intelligent one of the group (Kuwairo was the annoying, lust-filled brother-stalker, and Okibi, obviously, was the moron). Apparently he'd thought wrong.

Still, pranking the female Seer had been far more difficult than he'd imagined. With a defeated sigh, he switched his gaze from Enpitsu to Okibi. Not much of a challenge, of course, but definitely a guaranteed laugh.

He looked at Sora, who was flailing his arms about, trying to convey something that had happened in class to the Seers, and wondered if he should do something involving his brother or if he should leave him out of it. He'd already called out Sora's name, however, and the Seers obviously knew he was around. So he supposed...

"Yeah and then Cloud thought I wanted to jump him or something." Roxas blinked himself out of his thoughts in time to hear the statement. "It was really awkward."

True enough, he supposed, for Sora, at least. Roxas had found it entertaining, but he hadn't been the one on the receiving end of the lecture.

"Are you serious?" Okibi snorted. "You have some major bad luck, Sora."

Sora groaned and hid his face behind his hands again. "Yeah, I know."

Roxas, deciding to let his brother sit this prank out (Sora needed a break from pranking every now and then, for reasons Roxas didn't understand), looked around the lunchroom for something that was not food-related (he felt like mixing things up a little), something sharp and preferably shiny. Unable to find anything sufficiently shiny, his eyes landed on the next best thing. A spork, lying innocently unused next to Okibi's lunch tray.

First, he had to distract his innocent, peaceful, naive brother. "Hey, Sora! Hey, look over there, a distraction!" He said to his brother, who rolled his eyes and turned around, giving the ghost a look that said, "I'm not falling for that a- oh, something cool!"

Sora had found something that was interesting (to him only, most likely), and Roxas smiled to himself at being able to read his brother like an open book. He glanced at the Seers who, more or less used to Sora's odd behavior and short attention span, were now talking about something unimportant.

Knowing Sora wouldn't be distracted for too long, he quickly grabbed the spork and started jabbing Okibi in the side, getting in as much as he could before his brother turned around, no doubt drawn by Okibi's cries of "Shit! Ow! What the fuck?!"

But the second Sora returned his attention to the Seers, Roxas let the spork fall to the ground. Sora looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay, Axel?"

"Uhh... yeah," Axel said, rubbing his side and glaring at the spork that lay innocently on the floor. "I'm fine."

Sora, Roxas could tell, was preparing to annoy until he got the truth. Luckily, his brother was very easily distracted.

"Riku! You're back!"

Roxas frowned at his brother's exuberant greeting and narrowed his eyes at Kuwairo. Once the annoying brat had taken his seat, Sora promptly launched into a story about something or another, and Roxas returned his attention to Okibi. Enpitsu sighed and grabbed her tray.

"I'm just... gonna go somewhere," she said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Sora asked, concerned.

"Nothing's wrong. I just don't think-" she stopped herself and smiled. "Never mind. I'll be in the library."

Roxas rose an eyebrow as the blonde girl took a longer route to the doors and walked by him.

"Make it good, ghost," she muttered as she passed. Roxas froze, his eyes following her as she left the cafeteria. He immediately checked his shields and became anxious as he realized they hadn't faltered this time at all.

"Sora, I don't think—" Roxas began slowly.

"...So I hope Mr. Hobo can buy himself some food now, 'cause I worked pretty hard to get that envelope out to Hollow Bastion," Sora continued.

Roxas groaned as his brother rambled on, and decided, noting the fact that there wasn't much time left in lunch, that something big should happen. Soon. Thinking back to the various after-school specials he and Sora had watched back on Destiny Islands, he decided to see if a food fight would actually happen in real life.

Glancing around, he spotted the perfect messy food. A tomato. Ignoring the idle thought that had him wondering what a tomato was doing in a school lunch room, the ghost, as sneakily as possible, reached out and flung the tomato at Okibi's head.

"Ah, what the hell!?" The red-head shouted, hand flying to the back of his head. After a few moments of searching for the object, Okibi gave up with a shrug, defeated by the amount of his ridiculous hair, the ghost assumed. Roxas bit back an annoyed growl before he noticed the apple sitting on Kuwairo's new tray of food.

With a grin, Roxas reached out and began to shake the apple. It took a few seconds for Kuwairo to notice, but when he did—

"Not this time!" Kuwairo declared, throwing himself to the floor. Sora blinked down at him. Roxas let out a frustrated noise and, giving up on subtlety, grabbed Okibi's tray and threw it across the cafeteria.

"Sora, yell 'food fight'! Right now!" Roxas commanded as the tray hit an unsuspecting Seifer.

"What the fuck!?" the boy demanded, looking down at himself as a hush swept through the room.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Sora declared, following his brother's instruction without question. Riku looked up at him from his position on the floor, confused; Sora had his back turned to Seifer. He hadn't realized what had happened. The silver haired boy didn't have much time to reflect on this, however, as the food began to fly.

**THAT,FRIENDS,WASLUNCHLUNCHLUNCHFOOD**

_**Axel: Attempt Two**_

Roxas slowly floated through the door to the advanced chemistry room, a smug grin on his face. He glanced up at the wall clock for a moment, noting the fact that their period was nearly halfway completed, though not deterred by this. His first twenty-five minutes had been well-spent, after all.

_Thank Vexen freak had it coming, anyway._ Th ghost thought, remembering with a smile the state of his brother's class before he left. Glancing around the room, his shook his head, smile growing to a smirk as he spotted the familiar red spikes alone at a lab table in the back corner of the room.

The advanced chemistry class was doing a lab. What sort of lab, he could not tell, but it did involve vials, various liquids, and loud popping sounds. He flew around so he was in front of the Seer, and was surprised to see a look of immense concentration on his face. Roxas felt a momentary flash of pity for the junior, seeing as his lab partner was one table ahead, chatting with others, the group occasionally looking over at the red-head and laughing. Okibi, most likely used to this, ignored them. The teacher seemed not to notice. Roxas, of all people, knew what it was like not to have any friends around, and, for a moment, could empathize.

This feeling, of course, went away when Roxas remembered how much Okibi pissed him off, and he immediately went back to plotting.

The ghost slowly , casually floated over to Okibi's lab table, eyes scouring the room as he looked for weapons for the period that could cause Okibi to get that frustrated, aggravated expression Roxas had come to love seeing across the Seer's face.

Ignoring the fact that he had just thought the words "love" and "Okibi" in the same sentence, Roxas focused his energy on trying to find tools of his trade. That trade being professional prankery.

"That should definitely be an actual job," Roxas said to himself, laughing. Soon after this was said, the ghost sighed, having received no reaction. Apparently, he needed his brother's presence more than he'd initially assumed.

Shoving all his errant thoughts aside, he, once again, focused his attention on he pranking of Okibi. He was getting more and more scatter-brained as the school year progressed, he noticed, and that was not a good thing.

Roxas was brought out of his latest musings by another loud popping noise, and he focused more close on how he could use stuff in the room to his advantage. He looked at the glass beakers and vials near the edge of the table and smirked, planning on knocking them off, which would cause the teacher to get mad at Okibi. As excited as he was about this new plan, the ghost was incredibly startled when a loud shattering sound came from behind him.

"Oh, crap," he heard a girl's voice say, and he turned around to see Okibi's lab partner (still talking to friends at another lab table) had accidentally knocked an unused beaker onto the floor. There was glass everywhere, and the girl had a very frightened look on her ace. Okibi, Roxas noticed out of the corner of his eye, looked at the scene with an unusually calm indifference.

The teacher came over to the scene, shivering when he unknowingly walked through Roxas' arm. Roxas, having not noticed the fact that he was in the teacher's path, had a momentary panic attack, fearing Okibi's notice of his teacher's shiver, cast a frantic glance over at the Seer, but to his relief, the Okibi had not noticed. He was, in fact, doing something rather suspicious with his candle, but Roxas didn't care nearly enough to investigate.

"What happened here?" The teacher asked, as the girl who knocked over the beaker and her friends bent down to pick up the glass shards. The teacher shook his head, telling them not to worry about it. The girl wrung her hands nervously.

"I'm really sorry, I accidentally made it fall over. I'll clean it up, I swear!" She said, words in a jumble. Roxas rolled his eyes at her panic. The teacher, however, waved her comment aside.

"No, it's alright. Accidents happen. I'll call the janitor to clean it up, don't worry about it." He said calmly, and Roxas felt his jaw drop. No punishment at all? That was absurd!

Apparently, the girl had the same idea. It didn't show on her face, though she did look mildly shocked. "S-so," she stuttered nervously, "I'm not in trouble?"

"Nah, it's fine. just be more careful from now on, okay?" He said, a comforting smile on his face, and the girl nodded quickly, moving to the other side of the table as the teacher went to call the janitor to clean it up.

Roxas shook his head in awe, amazed how easily the teacher took it. He glanced around at Okibi, who was shaking his head minutely, teeth clenched together. But that didn't matter. Roxas heaved an annoyed sigh, crossing his arms.

_Well, that plan went down the drain fast,_ Roxas thought, glaring at nothing in particular. What was the point in making it seem like Okibi had broken something if he wouldn't get in trouble for it?

Class resumed, and after the mess was cleaned up, the incident was gone from everyone's minds, including Roxas', as the ghost was busy thinking of new ways to prank Okibi. The bell would ring in about fifteen minutes, and he would succeed in pranking the Seer if his life depended on it.

Well, technically _after _life, but who really cared about details like that?

As Roxas stared intently at the set-up on Okibi's table, in the back of his mind, he noticed something rather odd.

_Are candles supposed to leak like that?_ He thought, staring at the small layer of candle wax that, apparently, had dripped and half-hardened all over the lab table. Roxas, of course, had no experience with candles, but from observations in the past had never known them to leak _that _much. Maybe they were using special candles.

The wax, however, gave Roxas a brilliant idea. He was pretty sure that lab tables were built to be non-flammable, but with all the wax covering Okibi's table he was sure he could pull something off. Also, there were surely flammable chemicals in the room somewhere that could "accidentally" spill onto the table.

Roxas zoomed around the room, gathering as much as he could to drop on the table, hopefully without the Seer noticing. He did this in record time, only paying attention to Okibi's face to see if he had noticed him yet. Fortunately, the junior's attentions were oddly distracted at the time. Roxas didn't think to question his good luck.

Laughing to himself in anticipation, the ghost turned to the matches on a table nearby (Okibi's seemed to be missing) and went to make the table burn.

"Ah!"

"What the-"

"That's not possible!"

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!"

All these screams and more filled the room as smoke spread around the room and everyone ran around in a frenzied panic. Roxas, widened eyes blinking owlishly, started at Okibi's lab table that was, indeed, on fire. Quite a large fire, in fact.

"Did... Did I do that?" Roxas asked himself, but no, for the match he had control over was not yet lit, though it was quite close to the pack.

"Quickly, everyone outside, it's fine, it's under control!" The teacher was yelling, looking for the water source in the room if such an event were to happen. Which it just had.

Everyone ran out, except, Roxas noticed, Okibi, who walked calmly towards the door, large grin on his face, fingering, the ghost saw, a shiny silver lighter in his pocket.

Roxas blinked again.

_**Mission: Success?**_

_**Axel: Attempt Three**_

Roxas wondered if every teacher at Radiant Garden was insane, apathetic, or just weird. Cloud was fidgeting as the students entered the room. He watched with one eyebrow raised as the man quickly took attendance and stood up from his desk. Roxas continued to stare, with slight amusement, and idly wondered if the teacher was worried about something to do with his boyfriend.

"I have somewhere to be... away," the man stated hurriedly, almost stuttering as he made his way towards the door. "Watch a movie."

The door snapped shut behind him and for a moment there was silence. Then a collective groan swept through the class. Roxas glanced around, bemused.

"Again?" Okibi muttered as he put away his notebook.

"What movie is it this time?" A girl sitting near the back of the room asked in a resigned tone of voice. A small, mousy boy got up and put a tape into the VCR that was attached to the television.

"Roman Vice," he declared as he pressed play and flipped off the lights. He moved back to his seat and put his head down. The rest of the class, excluding Okibi, followed his example. Silent snores soon filled the room, and Roxas had to laugh at that. Okibi rolled his eyes, rested his head on his chin, and stared at the TV, bored. Roxas grinned as he looked about the room, taking note of the fact that almost everyone was already nearly asleep._ They were almost as bad as Sora, _he thought; _able to fall asleep immediately, regardless of location._

Okibi yawned and leaned back into his chair, closing his eyes. Roxas positioned himself so that he was directly in front of Okibi's desk, then leaned forward so that his face was only a few inches from the red-head's. He dropped his shields.

"What does Roman Vice have to do with English?" he asked.

"Shi—" Okibi's eyes shot open and he fell out of his chair. A few of his classmates shot him glares before closing their eyes once more. Most of them didn't even move. Roxas stared down at the green eyed Seer, amused.

"Seers," he said. "You're all so easy to scare."

Okibi glared death and daggers as he sat back down. Roxas tried to pull a deranged grin onto his face.

"Not very talkative, are you?" he asked. "That's okay, though. Your voice is annoying. It's a good thing that you're trying to stop using it so much."

"Why do you insist on making _my_ life hell?" Okibi breathed out, gritting his teeth.

"Well Sora isn't doing anything dangerous or important at the moment," the ghost explained. "And it's far too early to try and really get his attention. So I decided to stop by and have a little chat."

"What do you want?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Is that all you ever ask? Are you Seers incapable of being creative? And why is it never 'what are you planning' or 'who the hell are you' or 'can I join your evil cult?'"

The Seer's expression didn't change at all as Roxas spoke. The ghost shrugged and began to float around the classroom, bored, and through a few students who shivered and lifted their heads for a moment before trying to fall back asleep. Okibi's eyes followed his path warily. Roxas stopped at Cloud's desk and frowned.

"I've warned you Seers multiple times to stay away from Sora, but you haven't listened." Roxas tried hard to make himself sound regretful. "I guess that means I'll have to give you a taste of what will happen if you don't listen to me. It can't be someone alive, though. Oh, no," Roxas widened his eyes and shook his head, as though disturbed at the thought. "Sora would notice that. But a ghost... or two."

Roxas smiled as Okibi narrowed his eyes, thinking.

"You're friends with the two in the basement, right?"

With that, Roxas pushed the TV over and sunk through the floor, basking in the sound of the crash and the look of horrified realization on Okibi's face. He quickly made his way to the basement, hoping that Demyx and Zexion were there already, as he didn't have time to search for them in Neverwas.

"Oh, good," Roxas grinned, relieved, as he reached the basement. "You're both here."

Demyx's concern at this greeting was clearly noticeable, but Roxas was fairly sure he saw a shadow of defeat cross Zexion's face for half a second before it was gone.

"What have you done now?" Zexion asked.

"We don't have much time," Roxas said hurriedly. "When Okibi comes down, I need you to go to Neverwas, Zex. And Demy, since you're better at acting, I kind of need you to pretend that you're in severe pain before going to Neverwas, too."

"The point of this being?" Zexion pressed.

"Well..." Roxas began sheepishly. Demyx seemed to read more into this one word than Roxas imagined possible.

"You're trying to convince the Seers that you can kill ghosts," he moaned in exasperation. "Roxas. This is not a good idea."

Roxas metaphorically gathered up his pride, then chucked it out the metaphorical window.

"Please!" he begged. "Please, please, pleasepleaseplease please!"

Zexion was ready to tell him no, Roxas was aware. Demyx, however, knew that if this happened, Roxas would hold it against them until they made it up to him.

"Okay!" he cried over the ghost's begging. "Jeeze."

The sound of the door crashing open and footsteps charging down stairs echoed throughout the basement, cutting off Roxas' 'thank you.' The ghost grinned as Zexion disappeared with an eye-roll and Demyx began screaming as Okibi appeared in the doorway, out of breath.

"Ax-" Demyx cried, before cutting himself off with another scream. Roxas was impressed: he'd set this up and he could hardly tell that Demyx was acting.

Okibi seemed unable to do much of anything as Demyx continued to scream, contorting his ghostly figure into pained positions. Roxas smiled casually, watching the display with amusement. Finally, Okibi was able to snap out of his shock and run towards Demyx, who chose that moment to disappear to Neverwas, appearing, to Okibi, to flicker out of existence.

The Seer stared at Roxas, wide-eyed and pale, as the ghost laughed slightly and threw his shields back up.

_**Mission: Success**_

_**Axel: Attempt Four**_

Okibi was much more fun than the other two. Enpitsu was seemingly un-prankable, and though he got a sadistic pleasure out of throwing things at his brother's would-be stalker, Roxas just wasn't as amused by Kuwairo as he was by Okibi, who had a tendency to pull at his hair and bang his head against the wall when under stress.

"We're. So. Fucked." The red head muttered each word as his forehead met the wall. He continued to do this for a few more minutes and Roxas began to get slightly worried. Wouldn't he need those brain cells?

The Seer finally stopped and sank down onto his box-couch, cradling his head in his hands.

"What kind of ghost can kill other ghosts?" Okibi murmured. Roxas looked on uncertainly.

"I didn't break you, did I?" he asked aloud, despite the fact that Okibi couldn't hear him. "Sora will be so mad if I did. He'll give me the disappointed face. I can't stand up against the disappointed face." Roxas sighed. "Don't be broken, Seer."

Okibi stood up and headed out of the basement. Roxas followed behind him, feeling less enthused than he had been only ten minutes ago. Sora, though unobservant, was well conditioned to notice when Roxas pranked someone and could often figure out what the ghost had done based upon the victims' reactions and emotions. Of these, blind rage was common; depression was not.

"I'm in so much trouble," Roxas complained to himself as he smiled and waved at his brother from across the gym. Sora waved back. Distracted, he was unable to dodge the ball that flew at his gut. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Okibi!"

The red head turned around to face the gym teacher. "Hey, Cid."

"You're late," Cid said. Roxas made a face at him.

"Yeah, I was busy. I'm here now, though," Okibi shrugged.

"Well you shouldn't have bothered. No participation today," Cid commanded. Okibi shrugged again and Roxas followed him over to where Sora stood.

"Dodge-ball again?" Okibi asked. Sora frowned at him and Roxas, pretending not to listen, picked up a ball and threw it at Seifer.

"Are you okay?" Sora said, and the ghost could hear the suspicious tone in his voice. He chanced a glance at his brother and saw, to his dismay, that he was staring hard over Okibi's shoulder, straight at him.

"Oh, come on, Sora! I didn't know he'd take it so bad!" He said. "It was only a few little pranks. He'll be fine."

"I'm fine," Okibi said.

"See?" Roxas smiled. His brother returned his attention to Okibi and ignored the ghost. Roxas sighed and threw another ball at Seifer, who had managed to get out of jail. The boy looked around with a murderous expression before stomping back.

The game continued, full swing. Sora, after a receiving a harsh glare from Cid who was just about to step outside to smoke, went to participating 100%. Roxas would have chastized his brother for giving in so easily, but he needed to make the last period of Okibi's day something he could remember. Remember and shudder in pain, hopefully.

He began simply, just making the number of balls hit shockingly close to Okibi's gigantic head, but not direct enough to put him in the trench. He couldn't have the junior getting lazy, now. After a little while of this, some of his balls "accidentally" hitting Seifer and now coming anywhere close to Sora, Roxas decided that something bigger was in order.

Looking up, he noticed the net hanging innocently from the top of the gym, various balls of basket and volley variety stuck up there. Smirking, he casually moved them so they converged in one spot near Okibi. Smirk growing, he let them fall.

"Ack! Holy crap!" Okibi yelped, basketball hitting his spikey hair. Roxas was vaguely surprised, in the midst of his laughter, that they didn't pop from impact. The class stopped what they were doing, some to laugh at Okibi, others to look around the room in fright, obviously realizing the incredibly unlikeliness of all the balls trapped on the ceiling net falling in one place. Roxas made sure to let some of the balls land near those kids, just for laughs.

Sora, Roxas noticed, had a familiar expression of half concern for the Seer and half amusement about his brother's pranking. Roxas made a mental note to figure out a way to dispell the concern entirely, but that would take some time. His brother was too soft for his own good.

Cid, unsurprisingly, didn't notice any of this, or maybe he did but didn't care nearly enough to do anything about it. He poked his head in momentarily to yell at everyone to get back to dodgeball- having fuck be every other word, of course.

The class resumed, and Roxas eagerly turned to Okibi for his reaction, but was sorely disappointed.

"Look, I'm just gonna head up to my room," Okibi way saying to Sora, a sad look on his face. "Class is half-way over and I can't participate anyway. See you."

Sora waited until Okibi had left the gym before he turned to Roxas with a frown.

"Did you have to be so mean?" The boy demanded.

"Sora, come on, there's people around. They'll hear you talking to yourself," Roxas said. Sora pouted.

"Fine. Let's go to our room then," the brunet said and headed out of the gym. Roxas followed him, slightly impressed at his brother's nerve; walking out of a class, even gym, wasn't something he did often. They walked up to their room and Roxas grew tired of the silence.

"You're paranoid," the ghost said.

"Yeah, well," Sora replied, "at least I don't sound like Jesse McCartney when I sing."

Roxas glared.

_**Mission: Success**_


	10. Chapter Nine

**Authors' Notes****:**

**NiffStral: **...

**Carpe Cor (formerly OA): **Does anyone here remember the show Boy Meets World? Anyone? Anyone? How 'bout you there? No?

**Niff: **...What are you doing. We need to be writing our fic.

**CC: **This _is _how we write our fic, remember?

**Niff: **Oh, right. This is how we stay productive. Writing pages and pages every day, it's so easy when talking about Boy Meets World all the time.

**CC: **This is why we never get anything done... And then he jumped out of the portrait screaming, "Yatzai!"

**Niff: **...No. Anyways, we do have thousands of excuses like this that actually apply, but also... We just got lazy. Plain and simple.

**CC: **And this fic kind of lost our attention for a bit. But then we started writing again 'cause we kept getting reviews, and now we actually have some meaning behind things instead of just throwing it in there 'cause we think it's funny.

**Niff: **Though that does happen for some of the jokes. :D

**CC: **So, this chapter is from Namine's POV, which was really fun to write. Especially the flashbacks.

**Niff: **Also, for the most part, it takes place during the last chapter. If you can even remember the last chapter, that is.

**CC: **I know. I'd feel cheated, too.

**Niff: **I think that's it. Oh, wait, the disclaimer! Quentin, you do it!

**Quentin: DISCLAIMER: **Eek, eeek eek eek eeeeek, eek eek.

**Niff: **That was my bat Quentin, who's been living in my window for the past couple days. He said that nothing belongs to us. As usual.

**CC: **D:

**Niff: **Oh, and after having lost our planning notes -glares at CC- and rewriting them, we changed the length of the fic to 20 chapters, including the epilogue.

**CC: **Sorry...

**Niff: **So, without further adieu, The Namine Chapter!

**CC: **Enjoy!

_The cheap florescent lights are blinding as they glare down, blurring the room. A loud clang of a shutting door is heard. Hysterical laughter comes through the walls. The room is small, white, cramped. We're alone, they're alone, I'm alone, alone, alone..._

Namine's eyes snapped open, and for a moment the sunlight coming through the curtains was enough to make her heavy panting cease out of irrational fear. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to breathe once more.

_In, out, in, out, in, out, _the girl thought to herself, controlling her breathing. Hands still clenched around blankets, she slowly exhaled and reached to the desk beside her bed, only relaxing once she felt the familiar texture of her sketchbook and pencils. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and took in the sight of the gray ceiling with relief.

_That's the third time this week,_ Namine thought, letting her body relax. _I should really be more used to it by now._

Slowly sitting up and letting the comforter roll off her body, the freshman looked around. Her roommate had left, leaving the other side of the room a mess. Sighing, Namine swung her legs over the side of her bed, sliding her slippers on as she padded across the room. She bent over now and then to pick up fallen drawings of hers and food wrappers of her roommate's.

It wasn't that Namine didn't like her roommate; in fact, they were a little closer than she was with most of the other students at Radiant Garden. But that relationship was still only one of casual conversation and awkward glances outside their room.

Their interests varied greatly as well. If one were to look around the room, one would see that Namine's side was neat, tidy, and the walls were covered ceiling to floor with her pictures. It made for a very colorful little area that she was proud to call her safe haven.

Her roommate's side of the room, on the other hand, was ridiculously messy. Clothes and trash littered the floor, and the walls were full of haphazardly attached band posters, all featuring very unsafe looking people and symbols. Namine repressed a shudder as she re-taped up a half-fallen poster featuring the scarily adorable bat-vampire symbol that belonged to some popular band. With one final shudder, the artist moved away from the wall, going to her closet to get dressed.

Five minutes later, a knock was heard at the door. Namine froze, her uniform only halfway on.

"Hey, Nami? It's me! Time to start this glorious day! Yoohoo, Nami, open the door!" Axel shouted, as usual. She smiled, leaning over to grab her shirt.

"In a minute, Axel," she said, voice only slightly louder than normal. She froze as she heard the door slam open.

"Honestly, Nam, you can't expect us to- Holy crap!" Axel's green eyes went wide as he took in her partially dressed form. As their eyes met, Namine's hands flew to her chest, and her mind went blank. Another familiar voice suddenly came from outside her room, getting closer.

"Axel, I told you to not barge in like that, she's probably still getting dressed or somethi-" Riku, unlike Axel, never got the chance to see the girl shirtless as Namine's brain had decided to start working again.

"Get out, get out, get out!" she shrieked, shoving the red-head with one hand, the other leaving her chest to slam the door behind them. Once that was taken care of, she pressed her back to her door, breathing heavily.

"You idiot, what did you do this time? I told you-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, lalala, I can't hear you, trying to get shirtless- oh crap, it's back again! Riku, this is all your fault!"

"My fault? It wasn't my idea to come get her-"

"Just hang on, guys, I'll be out in a second," Namine finally cut in, quickly pulling on and buttoning up her shirt. She would be more annoyed with the two if she wasn't used to Axel's antics. It took a lot of effort to cross Namine's line, and this wasn't even close to the border.

After she had piled her homework and notebooks into her bag and straightened her shirt she jogged to her door, smiling at Axel's impatient and Riku's exasperated expressions. They grinned at her once she entered the hall, Axel only flinching a little as he met her gaze. As Riku rolled his eyes, Axel swung an arm around her shoulders, letting her know he had successfully blocked out what had happened minutes ago. As they headed out the door and across the field separating the girl's dorm to the school Namine clutched her sketchbook tighter to her chest, smiling as she realized she no longer shuddered when thinking about her recurring dream.

_This,_ Namine thought, _is what life should be like._

HOORAYFORNAMINEOHHEYTHATRHYMES!!

Namine bid farewell to her friends shortly after eating, needing to speak with Lexaeus about a small art competition. Telling the juniors to say "hi" to Sora for her when the boy arrived, she ran off towards the art room.

Having arrived in the art room about fifteen minutes before class was to begin, Namine found herself alone in the large room, Lexaeus being in his office. She let a small smile cross her face as she looked around; though she did cherish the time she had with her friends, it was always nice to have some time to herself, in a room she could freely leave and return. What better place than the art room?

Pulling out her manilla folder full of mailing information and her sketch, she walked up to the door and knocked lightly on the intimidating teacher's office.

"Come in." She heard from inside, and she complied.

"Lexaeus?" Namine began, walking up to the man with only slight hesitation. The large man lowered his book a fraction of an inch to glance at her. Namine held back a smile as she saw his lips twitch: she knew that, for some odd reason, the frightening man had taken a slight liking to her. "I have my entry here. Can I give it to you now?"

"Sure, just set it down." He replied, looking to an empty patch of desk in front of him. Namine walked over and did so. She smiled at him as she turned to leave.

"Thanks."

Lexaeus grumbled in response, but stopped her before she had a chance to exit the small room.

"Anonymous?" He asked. Namine paused, looking at the floor in shame.

"...Yes." The girl replied, hesitating. She could sense her teacher's gaze pouring into her, but he obviously did not care enough to pursue it.

"Right."

Holding back a sigh of relief, Namine exited the room and took her seat, gaze remaining on the ground even as she heard other students file in.

As Namine worked on blocking out all thoughts of the competition, bad memories and bad dreams, her idle gaze moved up and she smiled as she saw Sora walk in. She waved, and her smile grew as she saw him wave back.

_He's so nice, _Namine thought, hearing him take his his seat behind her. _Though I wonder why he's so friendly towards us? Normally non-Seers are drawn away from our presence. Maybe it's just his unusually friendly personality._

Her thoughts concerning her new friend were stopped when she heard whispers from the boy's direction. Cautiously turning in her seat, she rose her thin eyebrows as she saw him staring behind his seat and up a little, whispering near-unintelligible words to seemingly nothing.

"...not...dangerous...as! ...-ting people!" was all Namine had a chance to hear from this one-sided conversation, before Sora wagged his finger, turned, and froze, expression reminiscent of a deer in headlights as he saw her staring at him. Namine almost felt like laughing at this. Almost.

"Sora? Were you.. are you alright? You were, um, talking to yourself... again," she added, remembering the couple other times she had witnessed him acting in a similar manner. Sora's gaze moved to his right before he responded.

"I... uh... that's just... my- oh, look, class is starting!"

His attention went completely to Lexaeus, who had come out of his office after the bell and had cleared his throat to begin the lesson.

Knowing what it was and having been prepared, Namine bent over and grabbed her own painting supplies from her bag. It wasn't that she thought anything was wrong with the school's paint and brushes, it was just...

Okay, they were horrible excuses just barely attempting to pass for "art" materials. Where were the school's funds going, anyway? The gym?

Namine let her brush float across the paper as she thought about Sora's odd actions. Not just then, but for the past week he had been at their school. She wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with him, but she had a strong suspicion it had something to do with the ghost that was trying to kill him.

_No, _Namine corrected herself, _the ghost isn't trying to kill him, no matter what Demyx and Zexion think. Though I do think Sora knows more about it all than he's telling us._

She'd had these thoughts for a while now, about how Sora knew more than he was letting on. She confided these ideas, or, at least, a toned-down version of them with Riku and Axel, but they waved her thoughts aside.

"_Namine, Namine, Namine." Axel had said after she relayed her thoughts. "How could Sora know about ghosts? Or that creepy one following him, anyway. He's Sora, for crying out loud. He doesn't even notice when he's about to run into a wall half the time._

"_Yeah, as smart as he is in other things," Riku added, glaring at Axel for bringing up his beloved (though he was not entirely aware of it) Sora's faults, "he's not the most observational. And besides, if he were a Seer, surely he would've been found out by the ghost by now, and done something about it."_

"_I guess..." Namine muttered, though she still had strong doubts. Axel and Riku seemed to accept this, however, and their conversation segued to something about how much trouble Axel would be in if he were to burn down the science wing._

Blinking herself out of the memory, Namine focused on her painting. She was painting the stalker-ghost, or what she remembered of him, at any rate. Her memory was better than most, but it had been a while since that brief glimpse of him she'd gotten. That factor left much to her imagination.

Sighing at their lack of knowledge concerning Sora and his ghost stalker, Namine let her arm rest on top of the table, which unintentionally knocked her pencil, which had been resting next to her arm, onto the floor. Frowning, as she was usually not this clumsy, the girl bent over to pick it up, mumbling something as she did so.

Namine froze, still bent over. She heard a shuffling come from directly in front of her, followed by a crash.

"Aw, what the fuck, man?" she heard Seifer, the annoying boy who sat behind her shout as she sat up to look around.

The whole class was laughing at the amusing, she assumed, sight of Seifer covered in green paint. Namine began to smile a little herself, before she noticed that it was her green paint that had hit the unsuspecting bully. The smile froze on her face.

_The ghost..._ She thought, narrowing her eyes. She quickly turned her head from side to side, looking for any sign of the trouble-making ghost, but to no avail. He must have his shield up. _Was he trying to hit me with that paint? _Namine wondered, then frowned, this time in confusion. Why would a ghost, who was supposedly trying to kill her, Axel, Riku, and Sora, do something like get her covered in paint? Annoying, yes, but not exactly life-threatening.

OHMYGAWDJUSTFIGUREITOUTALREADY

Latin was something Namine actually rather enjoyed. The presentations were funny and the ghost seemed to be playing a game with her. She had a feeling that he liked her more than he did Axel and Riku, because he didn't seem to be trying very hard to embarrass her.

It only made her that much more sure that she was right, and that the ghost wasn't trying to hurt them. Maybe he was trying to tell her so by playing this game? It was rather fun, admittedly. She would dodge things and they would hit other people and she would act like she hadn't noticed.

Half-way thought the period she'd flipped to a new page in her sketchbook, about ready to sketch a Minotaur, when the ghost picked up a pencil and started drawing a rather unflattering picture of Axel. Giggling slightly, she waited until he was done with Axel and drew an equally unflattering picture of Riku next to it. The pencil paused in mid-air like the ghost was hesitating before it dropped to the desk.

Namine frowned, but assumed that the ghost wasn't powerful enough to hold objects for a very long amount of time.

The blonde girl waited for a little while, but the ghost didn't make another attempt at their game, so she returned her attention to the presentation in time to hear the boy declare, "So then he was javelined in the groin."

Namine laughed along with the rest of the class, excluding Sora. She glanced over at him to see the boy staring off into space. She was about to try and get his attention when she heard a disembodied voice speak. It was a strange sound—not the boy's voice, but the static that came along with it. She couldn't hear everything he was saying, but she listened hard and tried her best.

"...Can't do...nymore...ra," the voice said. "It...difficu... focus t..."

She sighed as the static disappeared, assuming the ghost had stopped talking. Maybe because of the conversation that was taking place next to her that caught her attention.

"He was just having a really bad day," a girl Namine knew by sight but not by name said. "I mean, he was killed. As were his son and his horse."

"And his groin."

She heard the voice loud and clear that time, and a surprised laugh erupted from her. She applauded with the rest of the class and could have sworn she saw Sora's mouth move out of the corner of her eye, but she was unable to hear what he said.

The ghost made another attempt at the game, but Namine really did have to study. She glared at a spot where she assumed the ghost was before returning her attention to the presentation.

Namine bid Sora goodbye at the end of the hour and watched him head down the hallway with a smile, making note of the fact that, even though Sora should have run into a few people, they were all nudged out of the way by some invisible force. _Really, the ghost couldn't be too bad._

MWAHAHAHALUNCHTIME

English and History had passed without any sort of action from the ghost, much to Namine's disappointment. She'd been hoping that they could continue with their little game, but he either was too tired to keep going or found her too uninteresting._ Shame_, she thought, b_ecause he made her classes rather interesting._

She entered the loud, bustling lunch room with a sigh and waited patiently in line to grab some food. She then cast her eyes about the room and, finding her friends, walked over to them. Sora was growling, for some reason, and looked positively mortified. He let his head hit the table and muttered something about his dislike of the school. Namine, taking pity, patted his shoulder consolingly as she sat down.

"I'm sure it can't have been that bad," she offered, then followed up by asking if he wanted to talk about it. The brunet responded with a negative and proceeded to ask the location of Riku.

She and Axel shared a look. They'd spoken only a few days before about trying some very subtle match-making if the situation got too annoying, but nothing had been decided. The pair shrugged and Namine bit her lip when she saw Sora's eyes narrow suspiciously as he glanced somewhere to the right of him.

Something was definitely going on with him. Axel and Riku could deny it all they wanted, but the female Seer had a strong feeling that they were all getting played, somehow, even if Sora wasn't completely aware of it. And how could he be? He was far too nice to even consider doing something like... whatever it was that the ghost was doing.

Axel and Sora continued talking and Namine was just about to settle back and enjoy her lunch when a loud profanity caught her attention. She looked up to find Riku—smart aleck, poised, nearly-perfect Riku—sprawled out on the floor, covered in food. It was a very good thing that she was sitting down, because if she wasn't she would have fallen over from laughing so hard.

She figured she should check if he was okay, but she and Axel were clutching onto each other and laughing so hard that it was getting rather difficult to breathe.

Controlling her laughter somewhat, Namine looked up to check if her friend was alright, and found him in the capable hands of Sora. She also noted, with a small smile, that the two were looking a little too cozy on the ground. At least, Riku was. Sora, as usual, seemed oblivious as he helped Riku get the food out of his hair.

Suddenly, Sora jerked his head up, staring at one of the lunchroom walls. Namine frowned, more suspicious than ever. Was the ghost trying to communicate with his victim?

Riku seemed to notice the boy's strange behavior as well, questioning it.

"Uhh..." Sora replied, "did you guys just hear someone yell my name?"

Namine froze again. How could he...?

"SORA!" She heard a shout, and immediately came to attention, catching the eyes of Riku and Axel, who also heard and made the connection.

"There it was again," Sora insisted, looking around. "Are you sure..."

Namine turned her shock look to Sora, noticing Axel do the same.

As Sora, most likely noticing their surprised looks and attempting to get rid of the awkwardness of the situation, changed the subject and turned again to Riku, who planned to leave for the bathroom to clean himself up more, Namine leaned into Axel, who had tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, since we know Sora's not a Seer, do you think maybe there can be... I dunno... _Hearers_?" Axel suggested. Namine inwardly giggled, but thinking about it, the idea had some potential. It made her less uncomfortable, thinking Sora might be something more than Blind, even if he wasn't a Seer.

Before they could continue brainstorming the weird situation Sora was in, the boy returned. They hastily changed the topic.

"Oh! So, in English today, I was trying to see if Cloud would be interested in getting together with Leon, so all class I was trying to see if he'd be interested, so I confronted him about it."

Axel, holding back laughter, asked him, "You did?"

"Yeah, and Cloud thought I was trying to jump him or something."

Namine resisted the urge to face-palm, instead choosing to return to her drawings, now that the action had passed. She looked up again when Axel began to complain about something jabbing at him. Smiling under the cover of her hair, Namine bent over once more to put away her materials.

_The ghost will accomplish more without me here, anyway,_ Namine thought, certain their "enemy" wasn't planning on doing anything more evil than mild pranks. As Riku took his seat, having returned from the bathroom, she stood.

"I'm just... gonna go somewhere," she explained, not feeling like coming up with a better excuse.

"Why? What's wrong?" Sora asked, concerned.

"Nothing's wrong. I just don't think-" she stopped herself and smiled. "Never mind. I'll be in the library."

She took a few steps, slowing a little when she felt the familiar coolness in the air.

"Make it good, ghost," she whispered, hoping the ghost caught her comment. Grinning in victory, she left the room.

DOESROXASHAVEAPARTNERINCRIME?IDOBELIEVEHEDOES

_The fluorescent lights bleached the colors from the world, and she was back there, that place, with its white white walls and the cameras that made noise when they moved, keeping her up at night and following her everywhere. She was trapped, trapped, trapped in that small, small room, with the bright lights and blinding walls closing in and there was no way out, the door was shut, no one was coming, she was lost, alone, alone forever, caged by her silence because why talk when they didn't listen? But no, no, that's how she got there in the first place._

_And then there was a girl in front of her, pretty dark hair spilling over her shoulders. Namine would have loved to draw her, doll-like and broken as she was, like her, but still there, she knew it. Not alone, she's there, there, there, and-_

Gone.

Namine fell against the wall, breathing deeply, eyes squeezed shut. She hated it when that happened.

Catching her breath, she opened her eyes and quickly stood before anyone walked by. She dusted off her uniform and headed for the room at the end of the hall.

Opening the door the the library, she scanned the room, perking up when she found her target. Clutching her bag, she walked over.

"Olette!" Namine called as quietly as possible, stopping next to the brunette. Olette looked up and gave her usual distant smile.

"Hey, Nami," she said. Her voice was distant, too, far away in a place where Namine couldn't reach her. "Weird stuff in Latin, huh?"

"Yeah, weird," Namine offered, sitting next to her. She glanced at the computer screen and felt her blood run cold.

** IllegalIsFaster42** says: (12:41:04 PM) Olette? You still there?

"Olette, isn't... wasn't that Pence's screenname?" Namine asked. Her head suddenly felt lighter than air.

Olette looked up at her, and Namine thought that if she were to draw the girl, she'd use dulled colors everywhere but the eyes. A bright green for the eyes, the color of anti-freeze. Vivid. Intense. Unnatural.

"Do you remember when everyone found out about your stay at the mental hospital? And everyone thought you were crazy?" Olette asked.

_Yes._ "I try not to..."

"Yeah, well, you're used to... weird stories, right? I mean, that's why you went there."

"...I guess..." Namine didn't like where this was going.

"Well... What would you think if I told you... that ghosts exist?"

Namine flinched back like she'd been hit.

"Olette... is Pence communicating with you? ...Through MSN messenger?" When she thought about it, it seemed like something Pence would do.

"I'm not crazy!" Olette yelled, defiant. The librarian looked up from her librarian duties behind the desk.

"Shh!" she hissed, the the manner all typical librarians shush students. Embarrassed, Olette ran a hand through her hair, trying to compose herself, and peered at Namine, cautiously hopeful.

"Have you ever felt like someone's watching you? When you're alone in the dark, and you spin around to see that no one's there? And in the back of your mind you tack on 'now' to the end of that, like if you'd moved just a little faster you would've seen someone?"

Namine remained silent, hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. She resisted the urge to look behind her. Olette typed something to Pence.

"Pence says that ghosts are everywhere, we just can't see them." She turned back to Namine.

"Is he..." Namine considered her words carefully. "Does... Pence... tell you to do things? Like, does he ever ask you to... do things he can't?"

"Um, no," Olette replied, face curious. "We just talk. He says he misses me. I... I miss him too."

Namine could see a little wetness in the corner of her eyes, and before she knew it, the girl had mumbled some excuse and ran out of the room. The bell rang. The computer flashed a new update from the conversation box.

** IllegalIsFaster42** is now offline.

With a final glance at the computer, Namine logged out of Olette's account and left the room.

WHYAMIALWAYSSOMEANTOPENCE?IT'SNOTONPURPOSEISWEAR

Namine couldn't concentrate throughout the rest of her classes. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Olette, one of the Blind, stumbling through life without seeing the Half-world, but knowing about ghosts and specters. It felt... wrong, somehow; dirty, dangerous. But didn't she have a right to know? Pence had been her friend, still was, just invisible now. And if Pence wasn't evil, wasn't trying to use Olette like how some ghosts toy with the Blind, well...

She thought of Sora. All soft blues and mid-tones, oblivious to everything, even the ghost Axel and Riku thought wanted to kill him.

Didn't he have the right to know too?

_The brightness was back. She was being led to her, the her that would "fix" her problem. Two men walked by her sides, Sickly thin like they belonged here, too, but bulky in the way that they were so there, grounded to the world, chained by their Blindness. Namine would have felt bad for them if they'd been accompanying her for any reason other than to restrain her should she become rowdy._

_A semi-transparent girl floated just in front of her. She was talking, but Namine couldn't focus on the words. Everything was so hazy, blurry, Half-world when she was on meds. She sometimes felt like she was one of the ghosts who wandered through the world in a torrent of time flying by, never really there but unable to be anywhere else. She was just like them, really, but without the anger, and it made her hate herself, because ghosts were bad, except that sometimes they weren't... Being angry took too much effort, just like thinking. Morals were so difficult._

"_How are you today, Namine?" The therapist asked. Namine hated the sound of that voice, so sickly sweet and open and understanding._

"_You have to talk eventually," she chastised. When Namine remained silent, the woman made a tiny note on her paper. "It's been two months, now."_

_Had it really? But she knew that just a week or two ago she'd been in that old warehouse, trying to tell a ghost far past crazy that driving a knife into your lover's heart won't make her love you again, in fact. And then the knife was driven into her, and there had been pain and people were crying (when did they get there?) and lights were flashing and she'd tried to tell her parents about the ghost, but they were Blind—Blind and deaf and stupid._

_And now she was here._

"_Namine, if you continue this behavior I'm going to have to remove your distractions. Understand?"_

_Namine did understand. She understood perfectly. She felt a bubble of something rise in her chest, recognized it as hate, but then it popped and she was left feeling nothing but empty._

"_Namine?" The woman slid her a piece of paper and a pencil. "Why don't you draw me a picture explaining how you feel?"_

"_How you feel," said a mocking voice. The girl was in front of her suddenly, face screwed into an angry mask. "Don't you hate when they ask you that? You'd better draw a good picture, Nami, 'cause after this there won't be any more distractions._

_Namine grabbed the pencil and the ghost smiled. She started scribbling on the paper, softly at first, then hard dark lines. Her hand began to cramp._

"_Namine?" The woman rose her eyebrows. "That's enough, now. Namine? Namine, stop. Stop!"_

"Stop!"

Namine snapped out of her memories at the familiar voice. That's right, she'd come to visit Sora, make sure the ghost wasn't going to try any of his "pranks" on her newest friend. Friend... Friend with a Blind. How weird. Looking down the hallway of the dorm, she noticed Sora's door open a crack. Curious, she walked towards the sliver of light.

"Take it back! Take it back!" Another voice shouted from inside the room. Namine paused.

"Okay, fine! Just... S-Stop!" Sora cried out in response. Were those gasps of pain she was hearing?

Making as little noise as possible, Namine continued to the room, reaching into her bag and pulling out an extra sharp pencil. Just in case.

"No, say it! Say you take it back, or I'll never stop!"

Halting right outside the door and trying not to breathe too heavily, Namine peered into the room.

She could see Sora in the middle, hanging upside down, suspended in mid-air only by his shoe. His arms flailed, one coming up to keep his shirt from revealing too much skin. He slowly rotated, and Namine could see he had a red face and teary eyes.

And levitating next to him, one hand wrapped around the shoe holding Sora up, the other wrapped around a pen that continuously poked the brunet in the side, was the ghost, the ghost who was trying to kill them all. He looked decidedly un-intimidating with a grin spread across his face, dressed in a light blue t-shirt and ripped jeans.

"Okay, okay! You don't sing like Jesse McCartney! I take it back!" Sora laughed, and the ghost's grin turned to one of victory. Namine lowered her "weapon."

_Wait..._ Namine thought, shocked. _He's a Seer? But how would... Why... How..._

Too confused to think, without another moment's hesitation she pushed the door open enough for her small frame to fit through and entered the room.

After about half a minute of failing to be noticed, she frowned, suddenly impatient. How could they not notice her standing there watching them? _Boys..._

"Ahem," she coughed, still frowning.

The two stared at her. She stared back. The ghost promptly dropped Sora onto the bed, probably out of surprise rather than the malicious intent Namine had earlier associated him with.

"Ow!" Sora exclaimed. "What was that for-"

"Silence, mortal!" the ghost cried, spinning in the air and pointing an accusing finger at the brunet. "Beware the Awesome powers of... uh... Dr. McEvilton!"

As Sora mouthed this name, face screwed into confusion, Namine pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes sliding shut.

"We've been afraid of _you_?" She sighed and turned to leave. What a waste of time.

_I'd better tell Riku and Axel that we don't have to worry about the ghost anymore. Maybe I can finish that drawing-_

"No, wait! I can explain! Roxas was just-"

"Sora, don't blow my cover!"

"It's too late for that, don't you think?"

"That's not the point, Sora!"

"Well, what is the point, _Dr. McEvilton!?_"

"_That_ is the point, idiot!"

Never before had Namine been so fed up with two people in her entire life. And, after knowing Riku and Axel for quite some time, that was saying something.

"Guys!" She near-shouted, interrupting their chicanery. Thankfully, her outburst seemed to work.

"Okay, okay, we'll explain." Sora told her, calming down.

Namine pursed her lips and _looked_ at Sora; the look that made Axel feel terrible for lighting things on fire, that made Riku ashamed of copying homework. Sora shrank back and fiddled with the end of his shirt, color rising to his cheeks. The ghost narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, scowling at Namine. There was a sort of haughty defiance she had seen in many ghosts before, the kind that told her they thought they were better because they were dead, that they were entitled to things because they'd been able to hold on and embed themselves in the Half-world instead of moving on. She'd let herself be convinced of that, too, when she was in the hospital...

"So, you see, Roxas isn't exactly... evil," Sora started awkwardly, determinedly avoiding her gaze. She sighed and forced her mind to the situation at hand.

"Somehow I think she managed to figure that out for herself," the ghost—Roxas—said.

"Yeah..." Sora proceeded to make a few flustered attempts to talk before falling silent and looking at the ghost, who took pity.

"We've... known each other for awhile," he said, and the way he said it made Namine think that maybe he didn't want to tell her anything that all, that he wished she was elsewhere, maybe lost in a Half-world of her own.

"For as long as I can remember," Sora added helpfully.

Roxas glanced at the brunet and Namine saw his eyes soften. For a second she thought she saw a smile flickering on his face, but then he was glaring at her again and she bit the inside of her cheek. She'd seen that look on people's faces before; she'd been seeing it on Riku's face lately. She'd always thought they were ridiculous, as they clouded people's thoughts and made her draw them all soft and exposed; a special kind of blindness.

But still, it was kind of sweet...

"Namine?" Sora said slowly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She nodded for him to go on. "So, yeah, I've sort of known I was a Seer my whole life, and Roxas has always been there to take care of me, even when I was little and the kids would pick on me."

The boy looked at her with those big blue eyes and Namine felt her heart melt. For a moment she let herself wonder what had happened to Sora, or what was still happening. The trio had talked about it awhile back, and assumed that being Seers meant that they were cursed, in a way—unlucky was a better term. Axel had watched his parents die and been left with only Reno to take care of him, Namine was never heard at home and never spoke at the hospital, and Riku... Well, he didn't like to talk about it. She could understand that.

"Why'd you want us to think you were evil?" she asked. The boys exchanged looks. Namine assumed there was meaning in them.

"It wasn't—I mean, we hadn't exactly planned for it to happen, originally," Roxas said. Now that she could really see him, she noticed subtle differences in him and her sketch. His cheekbones were a little higher, his eyes a little bigger. The differences bugged her. "Remember the first time I saw you? I—"

"He freaked," Sora cut in. "We hadn't met any Seers before, and—"

"You thought we were going to kill him?" Namine asked. It wasn't far from the mark; wasn't that the first option Riku and Axel had suggested?

"Something like that," Roxas said, shrugging. "And also, Sora hasn't really ever had any normal friends."

"Just the ghosts on the Islands," the brunet chimed in. "I kind of wanted to be, you know, normal, for once."

Namine replayed the boy's words in her head. "Friends with ghosts?" Sora nodded excitedly. "You know ghosts are, um, _bad_, right? Present company apparently excluded."

"They aren't bad!" Sora defensively exclaimed. "Just misunderstood. They just... they get mad, sometimes. Frustrated. And then sometimes bad things happen."

Namine stared at him blankly and recalled Sora's little adventure in Hollow Bastion, where he'd made friends with a homeless man. From behind him, the ghost waved his hands around and, seeing that he had her attention, pointed at the boy and mouthed 'he's like this all the time.' Namine covered her mouth to muffle a giggle. Ghosts weren't all bad, she had to remember. There were some, like Demyx and Zexion, and this new ghost, Roxas, who'd tied themselves to the Half-world to hold on to people close to them. Though the fact remained that most ghosts stayed for some sort of vengeance...

"Um... That's it, really." Finishing his story, Sora looked at her nervously. "You aren't mad, are you?"

"Mad?" Namine questioned, confused. "Why would I be mad?"

Sora looked at her as if she was crazy. "I've been lying to you guys all year! My own friends! Why would you _not _be mad?"

Namine shook her head, smiling gently. Even if she was the spiteful type, who could possibly blame those huge blue eyes?

"It's fine, Sora. You didn't want to let us, the ghost-hunters, know about your... Your Roxas! I'd be afraid to tell us too, even if we became friends. It was just to protect him, right?"

"Exactly!" Sora sounded relieved, plopping back down onto his bed. Namine kept her smile, looking between the two boys.

_How romantic..._ She thought dreamily, fingers itching for a pencil as the ghost gave Sora another caring yet exasperated look, which Sora returned with a smile. Oh, how she wished she could draw them!

Just as she was turning to leave, mind racing with new ideas, the ghost stopped her.

"Wait, before you go..." He began, and Namine rose an eyebrow, urging him to continue.

"Yes?"

"Could you not tell the other two? About me and Sora, I mean. They wouldn't be as, I dunno..."

"Understanding?" Sora added helpfully.

"Yeah, I doubt they'd be as understanding as you."

Namine frowned; she hadn't thought of what she'd tell Axel and Riku yet. They probably should know, but... Staying in the dark a little longer couldn't hurt, right?

"Sure, that's fine." She told the ghost with a bright grin. From what she could observe, Roxas was surprised she accepted so easily.

"Uh, great! We'll see you tomorrow then, I guess."

"See you tomorrow!"

With a wave, Namine left the room, slowly shutting the door behind her. Walking down the hall, she continued to contemplate what this new situation would mean for everyone.

_I cannot believe what Sora's been hiding from us this entire time... But, oh, those two are so cute together!_ Namine skipped a little as she exited the boys' dorm, hurrying to reach her own room. _It's just too bad I can't tell Axel or Riku- _

Oh wait. Riku.

Namine slowed to a walk, feeling the joy leave her body. She was fairly sure Riku was harboring a huge crush on Sora; what would he do when he found out the boy was taken by a love more powerful than life itself? Namine groaned, rubbing her brow. What to do...

_I'll just have to break it to him easy, _she reasoned, _and just hope he'll understand. _

This would be harder than she thought.

_But all that aside... I still can't believe Sora knew this whole time! And _another _good ghost? All the ghosts I've met so far haven't been evil... Shouldn't they be?_

Namine shook her head, taking the path filled with students still hanging out on the grounds around the main building to her own dorm. True, she, Axel, and Riku hadn't met many ghosts since "teaming up," but all the ones she knew of didn't seem evil. Not Pence, or Zexion, or Demyx...

Namine froze, hands dropping to her sides.

_Zexion and Demyx! They told us about Roxas, how he wanted to kill Sora! How evil he was! Have they known this whole time?!_

Slowly, it dawned on her, causing an uncharacteristic glare to cross her face. They knew! They were playing along, covering up for Roxas this entire time! They made her so worried-

"Damn ghosts," Namine grumbled to herself, turning on the spot and rushing to the main doors of the school, glad the building stayed open a few hours after school let out.

_How could they do this to us?_ _After all we've been through... They've been helping us, having fun with us in the LAIRE for ages! _

The "LAIRE," as the Seers called it, was the "haunted" basement of the school no one else went to, their hideout, their "Bat Cave" as Axel put it several times, for some reason. They came down to discuss important ghost matters (in theory), and to hang out with Zexion and Demyx, who couldn't see them any other place during the week. It had proven quite useful in the past, and coming up with its name was very amusing.

"_We should have a name for this place!" Axel had said, smiling at the dusty, spider-filled basement. Riku and Zexion looked at him incredulously, while Demyx excitedly nodded his agreement._

"_Oo, yeah! Like, oh, The Seers' Secret Hideout!" Demyx suggested. Axel frowned, shaking his head. _

"_Nah, too wordy. Plus, it'll have to be misleading, so we won't get any unwanted listeners interested. It's supposed to be just for us, after all."_

"_Oh, right. Hm..."_

_Namine smiled, holding back a laugh. Riku and Zexion looked exasperated with the conversation, but said nothing._

"_Oh, I've got it!" Axel announced, triumphant grin on his face. "We'll call it the LAIRE! All caps, plus an E at the end!"_

"_Yeah, that's so cool!" Demyx cheered, loving the idea. Riku frowned._

"_Wait, why is it all caps? Is it an acronym?"_

"_Nah, it's just cooler with all caps. Don't you agree, Nami?"_

_Riku looked at her, pleading for some sanity, but Namine merely laughed._

"_Sure, Axel. The LAIRE it is."_

And thus, their secret hideout got its name.

Luckily, Zexion and Demyx were there most of the time, when they weren't hanging out in the Otherworld. So, Namine knew exactly where to find them.

Her shoes thudded as she rushed down the steps and through the halls, hands clenched at her sides. Finally reaching the basement, she viciously turned the knob, swinging the door open.

"Zexion! Demyx!"

Namine normally never shouted her entrance, but making a lot of noise sometimes let her feel better about things, especially when she didn't have her sketchbook on hand. She wondered if there was a way to contact the Otherworld, maybe hold some sort of seance and call the spirits here. The Seers hadn't ever really considered that possibility...

"Hey Nam," a dull voice said. Namine started, snapped out of her thoughts, and looked over to see Axel staring blankly at the floor, sprawled on his box-couch like a rag doll, limbs limply hanging over the sides.

"Axel?" she said hesitantly, moving closer and staring. He was paler than usual, crazy hair in a messy disarray, proof that he'd been stressed enough to run his hand through it repeatedly. "Are you okay?"

"We have a problem, Nami," he said. His voice was still dull and she felt tension coil in her chest. It took a lot to make Axel stressed, and the last time she'd heard him sound like this... It was after his parents had died.

"What's wrong?" Her voice shook. "What's happened? Where's—where's Riku?"

Axel shrugged, closing his eyes. "Demyx and Zexion are dead."

The words hung in the air, awkwardly stung up like a marionette. Namine licked her lips nervously.

"Yeah, Axel," she replied, still worried. "They've been dead for ten years."

Green eyes opened and he finally turned his head to look at her, eyes blank, dulled, and Namine tried not to flinch back when she saw how Blind he looked. "Not ghost dead, Nams. Dead-dead. Dead and gone and not coming back."

"I—what? Are you sure? Why would they—"

"They didn't," Axel shook his head and sat up, lanky arms flopping lifelessly to his sides. "That ghost killed them. I don't know how, but I saw it happen. They're dead, Nam, gone, and Demyx was screaming so loud..."

Namine felt her head get light, fuzzy, like it always was back at the hospital when everything was all Half-world, all the time. "Gone?" Ghosts didn't kill other ghosts, not really, not without destroying their Anchor. A ghost that could do that... what could it do to the Blind? What could it do to the Seers? "What ghost?"

For the first time during the conversation, Namine saw something flicker on Axel's face. Annoyance, maybe? Disbelief?

"What ghost do you think? The one that's been making our lives hell," when Namine continued to stare blankly, he added, "the one that's after Sora."

And suddenly everything made so much sense. She sighed, relieved, and let herself sink to the floor, holding her head in her hands. Axel made a noise of sympathy, but she ignored it. Roxas clearly didn't know Axel very well, or he would have known that this was crossing a line. Now she had to deal with a depressed Axel and a pining Riku and things would just be so much easier if she told them the truth...

But then Riku would never give up, and Roxas and Sora's relationship would be under more stress than it already was, and Axel would hit on the ghost boy non-stop and their relationship would be put under more pressure, and she bet it was hard enough as it was, with Roxas being dead, without adding two more difficulties.

"I need to go," she said, standing up. She needed to yell at Roxas, tell him he'd taken it too far, make him give Demyx and Zexion back to Axel so he would stop looking at her like that, fear and sadness warring in his eyes, a flicker of anger and hate here and there.

He nodded at her in understanding, and Namine fled the basement.

She stalked through the halls, but soon her paces grew shorter, less determined, until she was all but shuffling. Her anger left her. She always did have trouble hanging onto it, even when—

_Even when they were staring at her like that, tears in their Blind eyes, disappointment and confusion dancing across their faces, she couldn't hate them. She thought she might, every once in awhile, but then it left her, flowed out of her until she was just tired and all she wanted was to be led to her room where she could sleep. _

"_Why won't you just talk, honey?" Her mom crouched so they were at eye level, trying one last time to bring her out of the Half-world she'd been staring into for so long. The gaze didn't hold her attention, took dull, too bland. She wondered what Axel and Riku were doing now, and when they would come visit her and if maybe they could work on things other than Seeing again._

_Her father sighed and put a hand on her back, pushing her lightly towards a lady with a pointed face and Blind eyes. Namine looked away from her, avoiding the gaze of all the others in the room, clearly wondering what someone so young was doing here, what she'd deserved to be exiled to this place. She wondered, too, what was so bad about trying to tell people the truth, that she was different and trying to protect people, that she was a—_

"Seer?"

Namine jumped, chest heaving. She swung around to see the ghost boy hovering in the air, face pinched oddly, and it took her a second to realize that was worry there, spread out for the Half-world to see.

"Are you alright? You look like you're having a panic attack. You're paler than I am," he said, and Namine's mind grasped that. Pale. Axel was pale, paler than usual, Axel was worried, Axel thought that Demyx and Zexion were gone, dead, not coming back.

"You ass!" Namine snapped. The ghost recoiled, surprise slipping onto his face. Namine remembered the first time she saw him, when that look melted into something feral, wild, and then he'd been gone... "What were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how upset Axel is? He thinks his friends are dead!"

"Oh," the ghost relaxed. "Is that what you're upset about?"

"Yes!" If she kept this up people would start coming out of their rooms to see what all the noise was about. "Bring them back. I know you didn't actually kill them. I know they're in on this stupid prank. But Axel doesn't, and he's been through way too much without you making it worse. Bring them back."

Something strange flickered across the ghost's face, something almost like guilt or regret, but then it was gone, replaced by a lazy boredom. "Fine, fine. Calm down, geez. It's not my fault the freak can't handle a joke."

Namine opened her mouth, color rising to her cheeks, but the ghost just smirked at her—the most infuriating smirk she'd ever seen, and she was friends with both Axel and Riku—and disappeared. She closed her mouth, pursed her lips, and closed her eyes. She leaned against the wall and held her head, which was starting to pound obnoxiously.

A cold wind blew down the hallway, suddenly, and—

_A shiver ran down her spine and her head snapped up, eyes searching the room wildly as the lady with the pointed face observed her, an interested frown marring her face. Namine's eyes landed on a glowing girl with the longest brown hair that she had ever seen, a shock of dark water-falling wildly from her head, spilling over her pale, glowing shoulders . _

_The girl's dark, sharp eyes bore into her, really Seeing her and hearing her even though she hadn't spoken in weeks, picking her apart with that single stare, and Namine couldn't look away, hands tightening around her little sketchbook she held clutched to her chest._

_What Namine wouldn't give to draw her..._

**EDIT:** Pence's MSN screenname is taken from the amazing (much better than our) fic How I Paid For College. So yeah. We didn't come up with it. ^^ Also changed another little thing, but I can't tell you what in fear of ruining future plot. Thanks for understanding~ -Niff_  
_


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N:**

**CarpeCor: **Guess how many words our last chapter had? OVER 9000!

**Niffstral: **Oh, internet memes. Guess how many words _this_ chapter has? OVER 7000!

**CC: **Not as cool.

**Niff: **Buuuut this chapter you'll automatically love, because there's been significantly less time since our last update.

**CC: **But are there duckies? No. Garbage.

**Niff: **Yay, more Boy Meets World references no one will get!

**CC: **Huzzah! :D

**Niff: **Quentin, do the disclaimer again!

**Quentin: **Squeeeeeek, eek eeeek ek! Eeeek eek!

**Niff: **He's still in my window. ^^

**CC: **...Yeah. Please don't hit me. Jeffery likes me better.

**Niff: **Lies! All lies! -hiss-

**CC: **...Cut to the chapter.

Roxas floated above the table the Seers sat at, belly down and head on his arms, watching the door, boredom lazily sprawled out across his face. He watched as Enpitsu said something quietly to Kuwairo, far too uninterested to try to listen. The silver haired boy looked stressed and rumpled. He apparently hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

Blue eyes flickered up to him, and Roxas made a face at the Seer girl. He had his shield up so she couldn't see him, but it made him feel better anyway. Even with her promise not to tell she was still managing to mess about with his pranks. But it would be good for Sora, having someone to talk to about him. Roxas wondered if the brunet was awake yet, and if he would freak when he found that his brother wasn't there waiting for him. He would understand, though, if Roxas ever got around to telling him about what he'd done to Okibi, and that he wanted to see the aftermath...

Kuwairo's head kept snapping to the door whenever anyone sleepily entered, but it was never the person he was looking for and he awkwardly glanced at Enpitsu while he pushed his food around his plate. Enpitsu, for her part, was acting rather normal, sketching lazily and ignoring the food before her. Roxas wondered what it was about Seers and food.

Kuwairo's head snapped to the door again, and his face filled with relief. Roxas glanced up, feigning boredom even though no one could see him. Okibi made his way to the table, a goofy smile on his face, emerald eyes lit up. Roxas sighed, watching the red-head's movements as he took a seat at the table. Everything about him was relieved, excited. The ghost pulled his bottom lip in from its pout. Watching Okibi stress had been so much fun...

As if sensing his thoughts, Enpitsu shot a glare up at him.

_Of course, seeing him happy is good, too_, he amended for her. Did the blond girl have some sort of telepathic abilities? It would explain a lot.

"Where were you last night?" Kuwairo snapped, then lowered his voice and muttered to himself, "you didn't come back." His voice dropped even lower. "I was worried."

Enpitsu stifled a giggle and ducked her head.

"Zemyx isn't dead!" Okibi declared, plopping next to Kuwairo and throwing an arm around his shoulder. Kuwairo stared at him for a short while, then slowly lifted the lanky limb from his shoulders and dropped it to the boy's side.

"Yes. Yes they are," Kuwairo said flatly, turning to Enpitsu with a questioning look, but the girl was staring up at where Roxas was. Her expression read something along the lines of 'good for you, but if you hadn't messed up you wouldn't have had to fix it.' Roxas stuck his tongue out.

"That's great, Axel," Enpitsu said, turning to the red head. "What happened?"

"What's going on?" Kuwairo demanded. Okibi turned to him, eyes shining, and Roxas flipped himself over so that he was staring at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and let the conversation flow over him.

"I saw the ghost kill Zemyx, which is why I was in the basement all night, and then Zemyx showed up and they'd been caught between the Half-world and the Otherworld, and apparently it was really painful but they aren't dead!" Okibi was positively giddy. It was a little strange.

It took Kuwairo a second to comprehend Okibi's explanation. "Wait..." he began, "the ghost _killed _Zemyx? That's impossible!"

"Well, _yeah, _I know that now. But before it was like they'd disappeared! Forever!"

At that, Roxas felt an uncharacteristic pang of guilt. Okibi looked really upset, mouth turned down, eyes far away as he recalled the incident...

Roxas shook his head. He was acting crazy.

"...But now they're back, and every thing's fine again!"

The door to the cafeteria opened again, and Sora's familiar aura washed over him. Roxas righted himself with a bright smile on his face. His brother's eyes landed on him and a twin grin replaced the previous worry. The brunet bounded over and plopped himself across from Enpitsu, eyes flickering up to Roxas in a subtle greeting.

"Hey Sora," he said. "Okibi's feeling better. Told you he'd get over it."

Sora's eyes landed on the grinning Okibi and he spoke while Roxas lowered himself to be behind his brother.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he said excitedly. His eyes landed on Namine and a secretive grin grew on his face. "Hey Namine," he said, voice laden with meaning. Namine slowly put her sketchbook down and gave him an odd look. Kuwairo froze, fork half-way to his mouth, and looked at Sora blankly. Okibi didn't seem to notice anything strange. Roxas closed his eyes and sighed. His brother sounded like a creeper.

"Hey Sora," Namine said. Roxas barked a laugh at the forced calm in her voice. Sora ignored him, choosing instead to grin brightly at the blond girl. Kuwairo's fork slowly lowered itself back to the plate, food uneaten. His head turned to stare at Enpitsu. Roxas rose his eyebrows at the dangerous look on the boy's face.

Enpitsu took in the look with a quiet dignity, saying, "Sora, can I talk to you alone?"

This managed to get Okibi's attention; the red-head had previously been shoveling food into his mouth at a rate that Roxas was fairly sure was a health hazard. His brows pulled together and he frowned around his food.

"Oh, about that thing?" Sora said, putting unnecessary emphasis on each word. Roxas couldn't hide his laughter as Kuwairo's hand tightened around his fork so much that his knuckles turned white. The silver haired boy clenched his jaw.

"Let's go," Enpitsu said, leading the boy out of the cafeteria. Roxas cast a glance at Okibi and Kuwairo, who instantly had their heads down, whispering about something or other, then followed his brother and the Seer.

When they reached the hallway, Enpitsu spun on Sora, face pulled into a deep frown. "Sora!"

The boy flinched back, surprise etched across his features. "What?"

Roxas dropped his shield, then, revealing himself to the Seer, but all he got was an annoyed glanced. He tried not to let himself be too miffed at this.

"If you keep acting like that it won't matter if I keep your secret or not," Enpitsu sighed, melting back into her normal, patient mood. Sora flushed.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm bad at keeping secrets."

Enpitsu's mouth dropped open. "You've been lying to us since you got here."

Sora's flush deepened. "You said you weren't mad about that!"

Enpitsu sighed, bringing her hand up and rubbing her forehead. "I'm not. You're going to make Riku kill me."

"Riku? Why?"

The two blonds sighed in unison, shaking their heads and telling the brunet not to worry about it, it's nothing. Sora looked at Roxas and the ghost turned away. His brother was suspicious, knew Roxas was keeping something from him and he was sick of it. They never kept secrets.

"Just, try to be more subtle, okay?" Enpitsu turned around and moved down the hallway. Roxas rose his shields. "I need to talk to Lexaeus. I'll see you in class."

Sora waited until Namine was out of sight before rounding on Roxas.

"What's going on?" he demanded, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Sora?" The boy spun around to see Olette licking her lips nervously, a laptop case slung across her shoulder. "Who are you talking to?"

"I—Um..." the brunet floundered for words and Roxas rested his head in his hands, wondering how long it would take for the rumors to spread that Sora was crazy. But then Olette's face morphed into a broken sort of understanding.

"Nevermind," she said quietly. She entered the cafeteria. The twins stared after her blankly.

"Let's go somewhere else," Roxas said, leading the way down the hall. He glanced around, seeing a decent amount of people, and decided that here was the best place to tell his brother. "So, you know that prank I pulled on Okibi yesterday? The one that made him emo?"

Sora nodded, glancing at him questioningly.

"Well, I may have made him think I killed Zexion and Demyx," Roxas said bluntly. His brother froze, eyes landing on him in disbelief. "I fixed it, though!" the ghost tacked on. "They're back, and now he just thinks I trapped them between worlds, and that it was just painful."

"You—" Sora's face collapsed, crumbling into some sort of disappointed/upset hybrid. But if he looked hard enough Roxas thought he might be able to see some sort of amusement, too. "Rox, you can't just _do_ that—"

"Hey, I said I fixed it! Besides, it was just a prank. No big deal."

"But you really made him upset! You can't-"

"Sora, _shh! _People are listening!"

Sora glanced around, blushing when he noticed several half-asleep students staring at him in confusion. With a final glare to Roxas, he turned and headed back to the table, where Kuwairo and Okibi were still discussing something in hushed voices, Kuwairo with a defeated expression. Roxas sighed, but couldn't help but feel a small amount of glee at the stress this was causing the Seer.

"Hey guys, sorry about that, " Sora told them, sitting down. Kuwairo kept a steady glare on his food, while Okibi smiled a bit awkwardly. "Namine had to go talk to Lexaeus."

Roxas snickered when the silver haired boy twitched at Enpitsu's name. Sora gave him a worried look, which the boy determinedly ignored. He scowled at his brother.

"Hey, I didn't do anything to Kuwairo," Roxas said defensively. Sora ignored him, and Roxas scowled. "Fine, whatever. I'm going."

Roxas sunk through the floor, catching a glimpse of Sora spinning around, regret and anger and fear spilled on his face, but then Roxas was zipping down the hallway in the floor below, a scowl crossing his features. Stupid Seers, making him and Sora get into an argument. They were more trouble than they were worth, clearly. He and Sora rarely ever argued, and when they did they usually ended up laughing at themselves. But now Sora was taking a side other than Roxas', and if he decided he was better off without the ghost then Roxas would be all alone...

He floated slowly through the halls, trying to focus on his anger rather than depression—anger was so much easier to handle; all he had to do was go to Neverwas and piss off a few ghosts and everything was okay again. As he was getting ready to disappear, Enpitsu walked around the corner, humming to herself, and Roxas heard opportunity knock at his door. Stupid Seers...

He threw down his shield and opened his mouth, harsh words on the tip of his tongue, words that would make her _cry_, dammit, but—

"Oh, Roxas," she said pleasantly, "I've been meaning to talk to you. But I didn't think in front of Sora was a good idea."

And instantly Roxas' anger melted away. He tried not to sigh. Stupid Seer.

"About what?" he asked, and pondered if this was what tired felt like. He would have to ask Sora once the boy wasn't mad at him anymore.

"You and Sora," Enpitsu said. Her eyes were bright and there was a soft smile on her lips. "I know you can't tell Riku yourself, since he thinks you're evil, but I just want you to know that I'm here to help you, and I'll tell him to back off for you."

Days and nights passed, children were born and grew up and went on to college only to drop out halfway through the first semester and end up pumping gas and become alcoholics and blame their parents for not being there in the time it took these words to sink in to Roxas' mind.

"You—what?" He blinked wildly, briefly considering the chance of this being a hallucination. He hadn't ever had one before, but hey, first time for everything.

"I understand," Enpitsu said, arms coming up to hug her sketchbook to her chest. "Your relationship is very sweet, and I'd feel bad if one of my friends tried to ruin it."

"I—you—I mean, thanks." The ghost boy had never before been so astoundingly flabbergasted. "Yeah, we, uh, we actually just had a little fight and—"

"Oh no, what happened?" The concerned tone covered a hidden eagerness. The girl leaned forward, eyes sparkling, and Roxas began to wonder if he was missing something. But if Enpitsu was actually on his side, and would make sure Kuwairo stayed far far away from his brother...

"Well, Kuwairo was just—" Roxas began, but then Sora turned the corner, head hung low, dragging his feet as he trudged through the hall. His head snapped up when he heard Roxas' voice and guilt swept up on him when he saw the wetness in his brother's eyes.

Enpitsu looked between them once, twice, three times, and said, "see you in class," and then she was gone and it was Roxas and Sora, alone in the hallway. Sora ran up to Roxas.

"I'msorryyouwererightanditwasjustastupidprankandIoverreactedand—"

"Sora, calm down," Roxas commanded. His brother took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Don't apologize, it was stupid. I wasn't thinking."

Sora peered up at him through his bangs. "I thought you left."

The ghost forced a smile onto his face. "I wouldn't," he lied. Silence descended. Roxas struggled to find something to say, but Sora beat him to it.

"Let's go to Hollow Bastion after classes," he burst out. "Just you and me. We can explore."

Roxas observed his brother for a short moment before he responded. "That's against the rules."

"Screw the rules, I have a ghost brother!" Sora said boldly, but Roxas heard the underlying panic, the desperation to show Roxas that he really was sorry for getting mad, that it wouldn't happen again, that he'd do anything Roxas asked, even break the rules, so long as his brother would just stay here with him and promise not to leave...

"We shouldn't. You'll get in trouble," Roxas said, dropping his eyes to the side. But he knew that tone. Sora wouldn't give up, would feel terrible about himself until he was convinced that Roxas was appeased and forgave him, even though the ghost rarely blamed his brother for anything.

"Please? I want to," he said. "And we haven't hung out just you and me for forever."

"Fine, fine," Roxas waved the boy's worries away. "If you're sure."

Sora grinned, hopeful. "I am."

WHYISEVERYONEINTHISFICGAYFOREACHOTHER?

"Are you sure?" Roxas asked, floating alongside Sora, who was determinedly staring at the city ahead.

"For the last time, yes! Now quit asking me!" Sora said, glaring in front of him. Roxas was silent for an entire minute as the buildings grew closer.

"...Are you _sure _you're sure?"

"Roxas!"

"Fine, fine." Roxas sighed, glancing behind them for the twelfth time. He looked back to his brother, who began to smile widely as they entered the city limits. "Did you want to do anything here specifically, or just wander?"

Sora frowned, slowing his pace. "Well, I was kinda hoping to see Mr. Hobo. I gave him a sandwich, you know! And a cookie!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sora, I know. Along with the hundred munny you decided to send. And the forty you gave him the first time you met."

Sora brightened up at that. "Oh yeah! Now we've really gotta see him!" With that, he took off running down the street.

After about half an hour of running through the streets, Roxas cleverly deduced that Sora had no idea where he was going. The brunet sat down in the middle of the sidewalk, pouting, and crossed his arms. A few people gave him odd glances as they walked by, but were in too much of a hurry to really bother with anything more. Roxas rolled his eyes. City people.

"We're never going to find him!" Sora bemoaned. Roxas looked over his head and cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't be so sure of that," he said. "My hobo senses are tingling."

Sora gasped, face lighting up. "You have _hobo _senses? Why don't I have hobo senses? Why didn't you ever tell me? Do you really?"

"No, Sora," Roxas sighed, using one hand to cover his face and the other to point behind his brother. "He's right there. Look behind you."

Sora turned, gigantic smile growing across his face upon seeing the hobo. The man was sitting in the window of a restaurant, blowing on a spoonful of soup, holding the bowl with one hand over his lap. Without another thought, Sora sprinted to the door, roughly yanking it open.

"Mr. Hobo!" Sora shouted immediately after entering, prompting everyone to fall silent and stare at him.

The hobo, taken off guard, jumped, hand holding the spoon freezing next to his face, other hand dropping the soup. The bowl flipped and landed in his lap, filling it with the chunky liquid. His face contorted into one of surprise and pain, lips going out and pulling back in a silent and pained moan.

(( http :// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = uqQbOWzKd2E time 2:04 to 2:17 ))

Roxas, flying in to berate his brother, paused at this scene, shocked for all of three seconds before bursting out in laughter.

"Look... Haha... Look at his face! Oh God, Sora, did you see his _face_?"

Sora, having a different reaction, ran over to the poor man. "Oh my god, I am so, so, so sorry! Are you okay? Oh no, your pants! You need new pants! Let's go buy you new pants!"

Five minutes later found Roxas following closely behind his brother, amused and a little confused. The brunet had the homeless man by the hand, tugging him into Squallmart. Roxas flicked his gaze upwards to the apathetic emoticon and wondered how such a positive slogan could seem so threatening. Always low prices. _Always._

"C'mon, Mr. Hobo," Sora said as Roxas returned his attention to the duo. Mr. Hobo allowed himself to be dragged along without much of a fight, mouth closed in a tight, confused line. "We can get you new pants here, and I promise I won't spill soup on them again. I'm so sorry about that, by the way! It looked like it hurt. Was it hot?"

Sora waved cheerily at the greeter and pulled the man deeper into the store. Sora spoke again before the man could answer his question. "Did you get that munny I sent? 'Cause I wrote your name on the envelope and I'd feel bad if someone took it. I could replace it, though, so it's okay if you didn't. I suppose it wasn't very smart to not deliver it myself..."

"I—" the man started, but Sora stopped very suddenly, causing the man to stumble, and declared, "Here we are!"

And, indeed, they were in the section of the store that held racks of pants. Sora turned to Mr. Hobo and sized him up, staring hard at his lower half, making the man shift uncomfortably. He then turned and began grabbing multiple pairs of pants from the racks without so much as glancing at the size or price, and shoved them into Mr. Hobo's arms.

Roxas couldn't contain his laughter and Sora turned to him with a bright grin, relief flickering in his eyes, and the ghost knew that the boy had forgiven himself for disagreeing with his brother, angering him so much he tried to put distance between them. Roxas winked at the brunet, feeling guilt gnaw at him. It had been a stupid prank, after all, and he should have encouraged Sora to speak his mind instead of getting angry at him for disagreeing.

"I'm going to go check out the video games for a second," he said, and Sora nodded. Mr. Hobo gazed at the boy oddly, but Sora had acted so strange around the man he probably just put it down to some other weird habit he had, staring into space and grinning, nodding at nothing.

"Come on," Sora said, turning to Mr. Hobo, "you need to try these on."

Shaking his head, Roxas floated lazily to the video games, staring at the customers and employees interestedly as he went. People always acted so different when they thought no one was watching, and it was always fun to see them relax, then tense when they felt his presence, the hairs on their arms rising as goose bumps crawled down their skin.

He reached the video game section to find two girls playing Katamari, bouncing and humming along to the music, every so often casting challenging glances at each other. He moved on, finding a young boy playing Mario Kart on one of the screens, and picked up a controller. The boy didn't take his eyes off the screen but, having seen the controller move from the corner of his eye, said, "hold on, almost done."

A good thirty minutes passed, during which Roxas swore profusely with the little boy at the enraging game.

"Fuck you, Bowser! Fuck you and your god damned bananas!" Roxas shouted. He was fairly sure a few people had noticed the floating controller, but the boy he was playing with hadn't, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Yeah, take it, Yoshi!" the little boy screamed, drawing a few glances his way. Roxas sighed, giving up on the game, and decided it was time to get back to his brother. He'd assumed the brunet would come find him when he was done, but maybe Sora decided it was better to be angry at him.

"Sorry, kid," Roxas said, floating away. For the first time the boy took his eyes off of the screen, looking around, bewildered.

"Where'd you go?" Roxas heard him ask before he was out of hearing range.

The ghost stumbled upon his brother fairly quickly. In the time he'd been gone, the duo had acquired a cart that was nearly overflowing with clothes, food and various other objects. Sora waved at Roxas, grinning delightedly, and grabbed a hat from a shelf.

"Oh, look, this one is like yours," he told Mr. Hobo. The man was staring at Sora with his brows furrowed, a cautious sort of fear hiding under his facial hair. "Except it doesn't have a hole in it... Is that a fashion statement? 'Cause I can make a hole if you want."

Sora proceeded to start to make a hole in the hat, but Roxas stopped him. "It's not a fashion statement, Sor', he's a hobo. Leave the hat alone."

"Oh," Sora said, lowering the hat, which was relatively unharmed. Mr. Hobo dropped his mouth to say something, but the boy interrupted him before he could. "I think we've got everything we need, right? A bunch of pants, lots of shirts, shampoo, conditioner, some food, a DS, a couple games, hats, socks, undies... Is there anything else?"

"...Sora, remember how we came here to get pants?" Roxas spoke over the man. Sora waved his question away.

"Yeah, so I think we're good."

Mr. Hobo pursed his lips but kept quiet as they pushed the cart to a check out line, Roxas steering whenever he saw that Sora was about to crash into anyone.

A tired looking lady rang up their purchases and Sora handed over his debit card at Roxas' urging. Whenever their mother had left them alone she'd also left a ton of money. Other than food (if Roxas wasn't around, Sora would probably have lived off of two or three ramen cups a week) and clothes and a few other supplies, Sora didn't really have anything to spend it on, so it sat in the bank. The blond smiled at his brother; he was happy he finally had someone to spend his munny on.

"Do you want a receipt?" the lady asked, prompting Sora to glance nervously at Roxas, who sighed and nodded.

"Yes, Sora, you want a receipt."

Sora looked back at the salesperson, a relieved, confident expression on his face. "Yes. Yes I do."

Outside the store, Mr. Hobo finally asserted himself and said, "thanks again, kid."

Sora's smile was blinding. "No problem."

Mr. Hobo shook his head slowly. "No, really, thanks. That munny you gave me before really helped me out. I was able to buy some decent clothes for a job interview and I start tomorrow. I'm crashing at a friend's place until I find an apartment, but I don't think she would have let me stay if I wasn't able to pitch in for food. So... thanks. If you ever need anything, find me, and I'll see what I can do."

The man looked awkward for a moment before he picked up his bags and quickly walked away, weaving through the crowded street with a practiced ease. Sora looked up at Roxas, eyes shining.

"That was so nice of him!" he declared. Roxas laughed.

"Kuwairo would be pissed if he knew you hung out with Mr. Hobo again," he said a few minutes later as they wandered the streets. From the corner of his eye he saw a flash of pink and heard a half-hearted mumble. Waiting a few more minutes, he added, "Kuwairo will probably be pissed when he finds out you went to Hollow Bastion by yourself."

There it was; another flash of pink. Roxas spun on his brother. "You blush every time I say his name!" he accused.

Sora flushed bright red, hanging his head. "I do not!"

"You do too! Sora!"

Silence descended. Roxas sulked.

WEGOTKINGDOMHEARTSBLANKETSTHISWEEKEND!

One hour later, Sora and Roxas found themselves in Squallbucks, the local coffee chain. They walked up to the counter, Sora's mouth wide as he looked at all the options.

"Oh, can I get a frappucino?" Sora asked, seeing the tons of sugary ingredients listed in the description. Roxas sighed.

"No, Sora. First of all, it's winter, and that's a cold drink. Second, it's way too sugary for someone as hyper as you to ingest. Third..."

Sora glanced around the store as the ghost talked, figuring Roxas would choose a better option for him anyway, as he had no idea about what coffees were what. As he people-watched, a familiar point of blond hair caught his attention.

"...And seventh, you—"

"Hey, it's Cloud! Let's go say hi!"

Sora spun around, grinning widely, maneuvering through the thick crowd over to his English teacher, not hearing Roxas' shouts over the noise of the customers. Pushing his way around a large group of people, Sora stopped, eyes wide, as he saw that Cloud was not alone.

"Hey, it's Leon! That's so cool, how they're hanging out together!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "They're dating, Sora, remember? You found out yesterday."

Understanding crossing his face, Sora blushed, berating himself for forgetting the relationship he had been so invested in, only to be proven futile, as Cloud had revealed to him that he and Leon were already dating.

"Yeah, well, it seems like it was longer." Sora argued, still blushing. He ignored Roxas' smirk. "Anyway, we can still talk to them."

Without a further chance for embarrassment, Sora confidently walked over to his teachers' table, wide grin back on his face.

"Hi Leon! Hi Cloud!" He said cheerily, waving at them. The two teachers, clearly absorbed in their own world, jumped as they were brought back to reality.

"Sora?" Cloud asked, looking at Sora incredulously. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Sora paled. He had forgotten they were teachers, and would therefore care that their student was illegally off of school grounds.

"Quick, Sora, change the subject!" Roxas interjected, nervous. Sora thought about what subject to change the topic to for about a quarter of a second.

"You two are dating!" the boy smugly declared. The shop went quiet, heads turning to stare. A few snickers were heard and Sora blushed to the roots of his hair. Roxas barked a laugh.

Cloud nervously darted his head from side to side, sinking in his seat, while Leon's eyebrows shot up, eyes going ever so slightly wider.

"What... Sora, two people can enjoy a coffee together without dating; you don't have to jump to conclusions..." Leon began, trailing off as he noticed Cloud shaking his head.

"Sorry, Leon," the blond explained, sighing, "he found out yesterday. I confirmed it."

Leon groaned softly, hand going to his forehead. Sora, feeling less nervous, smiled triumphantly at the two of them.

Roxas laughed, shaking his head. "I'm so proud of you, Sora. Blackmailing teachers. I knew you had it in you."

Sora would normally have been offended at disrespecting such awesome teachers, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at Roxas' approval. If he kept it up, maybe his brother wouldn't be mad at him anymore...

"Fine, stay here, just... Don't do anything illegal," Leon compromised, to which Sora nodded and took a seat at the teachers' table. Looking down, Sora noticed both teachers had a small cup of black coffee, no cream or sugar or anything.

"Can I try some of that?" Sora asked, gesturing towards the cups. Cloud and Leon looked at him disbelief.

"Um, Sora, I sort of figured you for someone who enjoys sweeter coffee," Cloud said, still staring at him. From behind him, Roxas sighed.

"Sora, black coffee is disgusting. I'll get you a latte, hang on." Sora briefly wondered how his ghost brother would order coffee, but didn't question it.

"I've never had coffee before!" Sora told them, prompting them to exchange bewildered looks.

"He is only sixteen, I guess..." Leon muttered to the blond, who was still surprised. Sora, taking this comment as an invitation, grabbed the mug. How would Roxas know what coffee tasted like, anyway?

"Thanks!" He told the two, grasping the handle and taking a huge gulp. As soon as the dark liquid hit his tongue, Sora's face clenched up, and, very, _very _reluctantly swallowing, gagged, hand flying to his throat. In front of him, he head Cloud laugh, Leon shaking his head in (hopefully) amusement.

"Yeah, thought so," Cloud said, still chuckling, taking back his mug.

"Sora!" A voice loudly called over the noisy crowd. Sora pushed his chair out, springing out of the seat.

"Oh, that's me!" He said to himself, running over to the counter. Once there, he saw a mug of something tan-ish with a swirl of white, as well as a cup of water. He looked up at the barista standing by the cups.

"I swear I don't remember making this... But hey, if you're Sora, take it," he told the brunet, obviously not caring enough to question this further. Roxas slowly floated out from behind the back, smirking to himself, and accompanied his brother back to the table.

"I figured you'd drink some of their coffee," Roxas explained the cup of water as Sora grabbed it. "And Sora, remember, after you drink this you have to try to control yourself. I don't want you running off and getting hurt, okay?"

His brother's concern for him made him glow, and a comfortable sort of warmth settled in his stomach. He shouldn't have yelled at his brother in the first place; Roxas could let his pranks get out of hand sometimes, but he never really hurt anyone. And Sora shouldn't have sided with the Seers just because they were his new friends...

"Are you okay, Sora?" Cloud asked, a small frown forming at the corner of his mouth.

Sora nodded, bringing his bright smile back after subtly flashing it at Roxas. "Yeah, I'm good." Lifting up his water, he swallowed a gulp of that to wash out the bitter taste from earlier, immediately following that with a sip (after Roxas warned him that it was far too hot) of his latte. Roxas nodded knowingly as Sora, clearly pleased with his new option, sipped the coffee.

"So," Sora began, leaning back in his chair, "where do you guys live?"

Roxas sighed from behind him. "Way to be a creeper, Sora."

"Uh..." Leon and Cloud, clearly agreeing with Roxas, exchanged a look. "Don't you think that's a little too personal for us to share with a student?"

"No," Sora answered simply. Roxas laughed.

"I still don't think-"

"I live here, in a little house just on the outskirts," Cloud said, interrupting Leon, who glared at his boyfriend's willingness to reveal personal information. Sora turned to Leon expectantly.

"I live away. Far away."

Cloud and Sora stared at him blankly. Leon, however, refused to back down, glaring out the window.

"You know how everything here is named "squall" something?" Cloud asked Sora, ignoring Leon's glare in Cloud's direction.

"Oooooh," Sora muttered, nodding in understanding. He had forgotten that Leon's dad owned pretty much everything in Hollow Bastion.

Leon looked at Sora, still glaring. "How do you know about that?"

"Mr. Hobo told me!"

Again, the teachers gave Sora a blank look.

Before they could question him further, Sora felt his pants vibrate.

"Oh, a phone call!" Reaching into his pocket, Sora pulled out his rarely used cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Sora!" A familiar voice replied. Sora smiled, excited.

"Kairi! Oh, hang on a sec,"

Sora turned back to his teachers, who had been quietly talking during Sora's phone call.

"I've got to go, guys. See you in class tomorrow! Bye!"

He heard one muttered "Wait a second," but ignored it in favor of leaving, pushing through the crowd out into the chilly air.

"Hi Kai!" Sora cried brightly, letting his feet take him wherever they wanted as he focused on talking. Roxas floated in front of him, tugging on people's clothing to guide them out of Sora's path. "What's up?"

"Just working on some homework," Kairi said. Sora could imagine her in her bedroom, tilting her chair back and biting the end of her pencil as she stared at the papers on her desk. "Sorry I haven't called. You sound better. How's boarding school?"

"It's pretty good," Sora said, grinning at his brother's back. He knew the ghost was listening. "I've made a few friends, and Roxas even managed to make one, too."

There was a lengthy pause, then, "Sora, Roxas is a ghost."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "His friend is a Seer."

"You found one? Sora, that's so great!" Kairi was always good for gushing. Sora beamed. "And Roxas hasn't pranked him?"

"Oh, well, no, he's pranked her." Sora laughed nervously. "She didn't seem to mind too much, though."

"She, huh?" Kairi laughed. "How's that—"

"Kairi?" Sora asked, pulling the phone from his ear and staring at the black screen. He frowned.

"Forgot to charge your phone again?" Roxas asked, turning around. Amusement danced in his eyes and Sora thought that maybe he'd been forgiven. Roxas always forgave him so easily...

"Yeah. Think Kairi will be angry?" His brother was going to respond, but Sora took in his surroundings and exclaimed, "hey! This is Axel's apartment!"

The look on Roxas' face was certainly displeased as he looked up at the building. Sora deflated. If Roxas didn't want to... But, as if reading his thoughts, the ghost spun around, a grin pasted firmly on his face.

"Let's go see if Reno's home," he suggested. "You liked him, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sora said excitedly, starting up the steps. "He's really funny."

Roxas didn't say anything and Sora hummed as they took the stairs to the correct floor and knocked. The brunet rocked back and forth on his heels as he waited, but no one answered the door.

"I'll go see if anyone's home," Roxas offered, and flew through the door. Sora waited patiently, but the ghost returned only a minute later, a rather flustered look on his face. Sora wanted to ask what had happened, but his brother said, "he's home," in such an embarrassed tone that Sora kept his mouth shut. He raised his fist and knocked again.

This time the door flew open to reveal a rather annoyed, soaked Reno. Sora rose his eyebrows at his brother, who pointedly looked away, when he saw that the man was naked but for a towel around his waist.

Reno's expression cleared when he saw that it was Sora at the door.

"Sora! My buddy!" he cried, throwing an arm around the boy and pulling him into the apartment. It was something of a miracle that Roxas didn't say or do anything about this, just followed quietly behind the duo. Sora didn't think he'd ever seen his brother so embarrassed. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back."

He disappeared down the hallway and Sora plopped down on the couch, wondering where the blond woman went. He grinned at his brother, who finally met his eyes.

"Not a word, brother, or you'll regret it," Roxas said blandly, and Sora bit his lip to stop his smile.

Reno emerged from the hallway fully dressed and smirking as he put on his goggles.

"So, Sora, how goes the ghost problem?" the man asked, dropping casually into a chair. Sora and Roxas' mouths dropped open.

"Namine told you about Roxas?" Sora choked out. Roxas' head snapped to him.

"Sora! Stop telling everyone!" he shouted. Sora flinched, and Roxas instantly regretted raising his voice and looked away guiltily.

Reno was staring at the brunet with raised eyebrows. "...Axel told me you were being haunted. I assume there's something he doesn't know?"

Sora blushed, not having realized Reno wouldn't know everything just because he'd told someone recently. "Uh... No..."

Reno gave him a skeptical look, crossing his arms. "Really? Then you won't mind if I tell Axel about this 'Roxas' ghost?"

"No, don't!" Sora and Roxas yelled simultaneously, though Reno could still only hear Sora. The redhead smirked and leaned back into his chair.

"Thought so."

"How do you know about ghosts, anyway?" Sora asked, mirroring his brother's pout. Reno raised his eyebrows.

"My brother is a Seer," he said simply, then frowned and sighed. "And apparently so is Namine. I'm going to assume Riku is, too. I can't believe Axel didn't tell me."

Sora avoided his eyes. "I can't believe he told you he was a Seer," he said, a quiet honesty in his voice. He couldn't imagine sitting his mother down and explaining to her that Roxas was still around.

"He didn't exactly mean to," Reno said, running a hand through his hair. Sora pretended he didn't notice the way Roxas leaned forward, eyes eager. He was probably just looking for more dirt on the red-head, anyway. "I found out a few weeks after our parents died. It was sort of an emotional break-down moment. He was upset that they didn't become ghosts and stay with him."

Sora's eyes grew wide at this, sympathy pulsing through him. Reno noticed this and waved his worries away.

"Hakuna, Sora. So that's my story. What about Roxas?"

Said boy groaned, placed his head in his hands, and said, "just tell him, Sora. Just tell him."

Sora looked at his brother guiltily. He didn't mean to ruin all the boy's pranks, it just happened that way. "You won't tell, right? Promise?"

After extracting a promise from the man, Sora found himself explaining his predicament for the second time in two days. Reno was a good listener. He made the right faces at the right times, asked questions when Sora left something out. It was... nice, having someone—other than Roxas—listen to him like that.

"So this kid's here right now, right?" At Sora's nod, Reno continued, "and he's your twin brother? Does he look like you?"

"Stop leering at him!" Roxas shouted, speaking up for the first time since Sora began his story. The brunet ignored him in favor of digging around in his bag. He pulled out a piece of paper.

"Sort of," he said, unfolding it and handing it to the man. "But he's blond and a little taller."

Roxas looked at the paper curiously to find it was the picture Namine had drawn of him before. He looked at his brother. "Where'd you get that?"

"Namine gave it to me earlier," Sora said. Reno raised his eyebrows at him, a slow smirk sliding onto his face. Sora blinked at him.

"Blond, huh? And does he—"

"Roxas! You should call!" he exclaimed suddenly, spinning away from Reno to look at his brother. The ghost stared at him flatly.

"Sora, I'm not going to talk to Okibi's _brother_ just because—" he started, but then Reno's arm was around the brunet's shoulder again, smirk still present.

"Yeah, Roxie! You should call!" The way he said it made it clear he had no idea what that meant, but it infuriated the ghost anyway.

"_Roxie?" _Sora had rarely heard his brother's voice so deadly. He licked his lips and looked away, hoping beyond hope the ghost wouldn't throw the coffee table at Reno's face. He grimaced.

"You might not want to call him that..." Sora offered helpfully as Roxas fumed, eyes darting around the apartment as though he was looking for a suitable projectile. His eyes landed on the coffee table. Sora blanched, turning to his brother with his eyes wide. "Please?"

Roxas stilled, half-way to the table, and sighed. "Fine, fine."

It took a few moments to get Reno's house phone and the man's cell number, but soon enough Roxas found himself sticking his hand into the phone and focusing on getting the right connection. When Reno's cell rang, Roxas smirked and picked up the house phone. The man's face was shocked. Roxas never got tired of seeing that expression on people.

"Hello?" Reno said into the phone. His voice shook slightly. Sora beamed at his brother.

"Call me Roxie again and I kill you," Roxas said. Reno let out a surprised laugh, face quickly twisting into another smirk.

"Feisty, I see. I like that." Reno said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Sora burst into a peal of giggles, biting his lip to try to keep them muffled. Reno shot an amused glance his way.

"What's a ghost based pick up line?" When Sora didn't answer, Reno continued, "Something about moaning. Ghosts moan, right? Ow! Hey! Ow! Stop!"

"Roxas!" Sora exclaimed, snatching the phone from his brother's hand before he could hit Reno again. "Play nice!"

"He was asking for it!" Roxas exclaimed.

Reno, who still had his cell phone held to his ear, said, "that's not all I was asking for," to which Roxas responded with another hit. Sora hid his face in his hands, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"I am an angry, vengeful ghost," Roxas growled into the phone, but nothing he said could get the smirk off of the man's face. Sora thought that maybe he wasn't trying very hard, that he maybe liked the attention. "If you're not careful I'll haunt you."

Sora didn't know how Reno knew where to leer, but the man was doing a remarkably good job of guessing. "Baby, you can haunt me any day."

Roxas sweat-dropped.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**CC:** Hallo. Chapter's out. Notice how it didn't take a year? Huh? Did you see? I made Niffy write during class :D I deserve a medal. Or a cookie. Will you give me a cookie? I want a cookie...

**Niff:** You don't get a cookie. I give you part of my lunch every day I have it.

**CC:** You're mean. You are a mean person and I don't like you anymore. D: Go away and be mean somewhere else you cookie monger.

**Niff:** Hey, don't be mad at me! I own your soul! I provide the delicious cheese and sandwiches!

**CC: **This is true. Anyways, happy Zemyx day!

**Niff:** To celebrate, we've included amazing Zemyx funtimes in the chapter. Also, unrelated, you should all read John Dies At the End.

**CC:** It's a horror/comedy (about penises). For serious. Go buy it nao.

**Niff:** Anyways, Quentin left, so I'll have to do the disclaimer: We actually own everything. We've been lying to you all this time. Actually basically.

**CC:** Indeed we do. We also own a giraffe, a llama, those things at the end of shoelaces, those plastic things at the end of shoelaces, and your eyeballs.

**Niff: **We're writing this during our Latin final! Yay for finals being almost over!

**CC:** Enjoy the chapter~

"Where were you yesterday?" Riku's voice was tense and guarded. Sora blinked at him worriedly.

"What d'you mean?" He carefully ignored the vacant expression marring his brother's face. Roxas hadn't been entirely present since they'd gotten back from Hollow Bastion, eyes distant and mouth twitching into a smile and then a scowl and back to a smile. Sora hadn't ever seen the blond boy act like this. It made him nervous.

"You weren't around yesterday. We were looking for you." Sora didn't like the way Riku was holding himself, the way his words were said around gritted teeth, the way his hands were jammed into his pockets as they walked. Sora bit his lip.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked. Riku continued to give him a hostile look.

"You shouldn't leave school grounds, that's breaking the rules."

Sora frowned, still nervously biting his lip. "I just thought that-"

"Look, I was worried, okay?" Riku snapped, face going red. Shocked, Sora's mouth slowly melted into a warm smile.

"Thanks, Riku."

From behind him, Sora heard Roxas make fake gagging noises as he and Riku smiled at each other. Sora wondered if the boy had snapped out of his daydream, or if his thoughts were the cause of his gagging.

"So, really, what did you do all afternoon? You left school grounds, right? We looked everywhere else."

"Uh, yeah, we- er, I was in Hollow Bastion." Riku rose an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

"What were you doing there?"

Remembering what Roxas had said about Riku being angry about his spending the day with Mr. Hobo, Sora nervously tried to come up with a story. He glanced at Roxas out of the corner of his eye, but the ghost was busy staring off into space. Looking at Riku again, the junior hadn't changed his inquiring expression.

"So, uhm, see... What had happened was... was... um... There was this dog, right? With a really shiny collar. You have no idea how shiny this collar was." Sora rambled off, quickly thinking of a realistic excuse. "It was like, reflecting light _everywhere,_ and the sun was really bright and this dog was just like running around in circles and that collar was _so_ shiny."

Sora looked expectantly at Riku, who seemed to be busy attempting to formulate a response. With a highly confused expression, Riku's hand moved to touch his face, then moved out, beginning to point, then back to his face again, going to his chin, before finally dropping to his side. Sora wondered if Riku was beginning some sort of dance.

"...What—?" Riku finally spoke.

"Sora!" Another voice called out, and Sora breathed a sigh of relief. The two boys turned to see Axel running towards them, shoving something into his pocket. Sora held back a laugh at the image of the tall redhead jumping up and down, attempting to get his hand out of his pocket while still running towards them. "Hey, guys."

The red head threw an arm around Riku's shoulders, pulling the scowling boy close and ruffling his hair. Sora noticed his brother's intense gaze on Axel but, again, ignored it. He didn't know what was going on with the ghost; he would have to wait until they were away from the Seers to find out.

"So, shorty," Axel said casually, releasing a struggling Riku and digging his phone out of his pockets again. Riku's hands darted to his hair, fixing the damage Axel had done. "I just got a text from my brother. Why were you at our house yesterday?"

Riku's eyes narrowed at Sora, who ducked his head. The silver haired boy's gaze burned into him, as if saying, 'dog, huh?'

"Well, uh, the dog knew Reno, see," Sora began. Roxas' disbelieving eyes fell on him and he tried not to flinch back.

"What have you gotten yourself into?" he asked, but Sora didn't answer, just flushed a bright red as Axel nodded like his explanation made sense. The red head handed his phone to Sora. Roxas leaned closer to read the message.

**:D heyyyy lozer guess what?_? Ur boy came over ystrday w/ his 'special friend.' :O And ther was this adorable blond I wuz talkin to. Say hi 4 me if you see him :D :D :D**

"'Your boy?' " Riku repeated. Sora didn't understand why there was ire in his tone, but he had other things to focus on. Such as—

"'Special friend?'" he repeated, a pout forming on his lips. Reno had promised he wouldn't tell...

"'Adorable?'" Roxas growled. Sora glanced over to find Roxas crossing his arms and scowling darkly at the phone. "I'm going to kick his ass the next time I see him." But there wasn't really any strength behind it.

Sora didn't fully understand what had happened during the conversation they'd had at Reno's house. It seemed, to him, that they were just joking around, but Roxas had been acting weird ever since. Sora turned wide eyes to his brother, mouth falling open slightly as realization flooded his features. Roxas saw this and looked away pointedly.

"Pay attention to what's going on," Roxas said, avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah, that's the kind of reaction Reno gets whenever he does anything at all," Axel said, amused, as he observed a fuming Riku and a pouting Sora. "Dunno why he asked me to say hi to that guy, though. Unless Reno's suddenly a pedophile..."

Axel seemed to consider this for a moment, but then shrugged it off. "So what were you guys doing?"

Sora's eyes dropped to the ground. "We were just hanging out." He shrugged, avoiding Riku's eyes, and saw Namine coming towards them. He forced a grin and waved his arm energetically.

"Namine! Hi!" he exclaimed, ducking under the arm Riku was using to trying to grab him. He ran over to the girl and threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly. When he pulled back he whispered, "Roxas isn't mad at me anymore."

Namine's shock and hesitance shifted into understanding. "That's great, Sora." She made to go on, but Axel, Riku, and Roxas had arrived. Namine took a step back from Sora, eyes flickering to a fuming Riku. Sora looked at his brother, completely lost.

"Don't worry about it," Roxas shrugged, moving to float by Sora's side, flipping onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "Kuwairo's just being pissy. It's not your fault."

Sora always had trouble shrugging things off as easily as Roxas did, biting his lip as they made their way to the cafeteria for breakfast. He fidgeted, walking between Namine and Riku with Axel trailing behind, punching buttons on his phone. _Probably replying to Reno's text message,_ Sora figured. He ran a hand through his hair, glanced at Riku, shoved his hands in his pockets, looked at Riku again, took his hands out of his pockets and looped his thumbs through the belt loop, looked at—

"Why are you staring at me?" Riku finally asked as they took their seats at a table. Namine and Axel had disappeared to pile a tray with food for the four of them. Sora ducked his head, embarrassed at being caught.

"Are you mad at me?" Sora asked. He didn't know what to do if Riku really was mad. He hadn't ever had to deal with anything like that before. How was he supposed to apologize when he didn't know what he did wrong? "I'm sorry I went to Hollow Bastion—"

"Food's here!" Axel declared, setting the tray down and plopping next to Sora. Roxas, for once, didn't comment on this. Sora turned to find that he'd zoned out again, eyes closed as he floated on his back, hands tucked lazily under his head.

Sora grabbed a pear and took a noisy bite as the other three began talking about their classes. Every so often one of them would subtly shoot a glance at Sora, which he pretended not to notice. This prank was getting complicated, and Sora was tired of pretending. But Roxas was having fun, and he couldn't make Roxas mad at him again or the ghost would really leave, and Sora would be all alone. The thought made him feel hollow inside.

"Sora?" Namine said, snapping him out of his thoughts. He grinned at her, wondering how many times she'd said his name.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking oddly at Riku, who'd taken it upon himself to butcher a bagel with a plastic knife.

"I asked you how your classes are going," she said. Sora blinked at her. His classes? He knew he was in boarding school, but classes were the least of his worries.

"Alright," he shrugged. "We're getting our tests back in math today."

"How do you think you did?"

"Um... I dunno..." Sora couldn't concentrate on conversations that didn't apply to his personal life.

Namine sighed, poking at her toast with a fork. Sora watched her uninterestedly, trying to not catch Riku's eye, afraid the boy was still mad at him. Whenever he and Roxas got into a fight, they always made up after a short amount of time, but other than his mother (who was perpetually mad at him, it seemed), no one got angry with him. Well, there were all those people on the island, but they never really seemed to be mad at him, exactly. It was more like he was the one they took their anger out on.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Sora!"

Sora swung his head around, smiling when he saw the speaker. "Olette! Hi!" As he turned, he saw Namine giving the girl a speculative look. He idly wondered what that was about.

The brunette ran up to him, a piece of yellow paper clasped in her hand. "Xemnas wants to see you." She handed him the paper.

"Oh... That's the counselor, right?" He vaguely remembered an intimidating man with yellow eyes and silver hair from when he first arrived at the school. Olette nodded.

"Yeah, he's the counselor for about a third of the students here, I think. His office is on the second floor, near DiZ's. No one really likes him..."

Sora frowned, but set his pear down, getting up. The note had been very vague; only saying where the man's office was and a note that he was excused from his first period.

"Guess I'll see you later, guys." Sora told the table. Axel cheerily waved at him, mouth stuffed full of food. Namine smiled and waved as well, but glanced at Olette every couple seconds. Riku was busy stabbing his bagel. Roxas, Sora noticed with a sad frown, was still daydreaming, staring out one of the windows.

He shrugged it off. He could face his counselor by himself. Besides, there wasn't a way to get Roxas' attention without looking crazy. He grabbed his backpack and took off towards the exit, making a mental note to talk to his brother later. He looked over his shoulder before he left, staring at his brother for a few moments and wondering how long it would take him to realize he was gone.

The answer was three minutes, not that Roxas knew to keep track. He shook himself from his muddled thoughts to make sure Sora wasn't saying anything too ridiculous, only to find that Sora wasn't there. He panicked, floating higher so as to look at the heads of the students, searching desperately for a sight of the familiar spiky hair. He found himself disappointed and floating back down to the Seers' table, only to realize that the other two boys had left as well, leaving Enpitsu nibbling on her toast alone.

Her blue eyes moved slowly over the cafeteria as he stared at her forlornly, wondering where his brother had disappeared to.

"Roxas? Are you here?" She asked. Roxas watched a boy with a pointed face make to sit down next to her, but stopped when he heard her talking, seemingly to herself. The girl hesitated, then tried again. "...Dr. McEvilton?"

This, it seemed, was enough for the innocent bystander. He tightened his grip on his tray and walked by the table without so much as glancing at the blonde girl. Roxas rolled his eyes, dropped his shield, and sighed at her.

"What do you want, Enpitsu?" he asked dully, eyes roaming over the other students. Still no sign of his brother.

"You should call me Namine, since we're friends now," she said, putting down her half eaten toast and opening her sketch book. She began to draw as she talked. Roxas had to move closer to hear her. "Sora went to see his counselor, in case you were wondering."

"And the other two?" Roxas asked, relief spreading through him. Sora hadn't stormed off when he wasn't paying attention. His brother might not even be mad at him.

Enpi—Namine gave him a stern look for the tone he used to refer to the other Seers, but he shrugged it off. She dropped her attention back to the sketch book and said in a clipped voice, "they've decided that class isn't worth their time. They're cleaning the LAIRE."

"The what now?" Roxas asked, bringing himself back to the conversation. He'd almost let his thoughts drift off again, back to that conversation with Okibi's brother. It was stupid, he knew, to dwell on it, but back on the island ghosts had typically avoided him, and Kairi was always at least a little uncomfortable talking to him on the phone...

"The basement," Namine said, making a few dark lines on her sketch. "It's where we have Seer meetings and things."

"Oh," the ghost replied. His attention drifted again, this time to the students who were giving Namine strange looks. Roxas could understand why, but it made him scowl all the same. Sora used to sit alone, picking uneasily at his food while the other students gave him dirty looks for talking to someone they couldn't see. It was eerie how similar the situations were. "Don't you get sick of it?"

He'd always wanted to ask Sora, but bringing up people's tenancy to shun the brunet often ended with frowns and maybe tears, if Roxas was really unlucky. But Namine didn't seem to be as bothered by it. Maybe because she had the other boys.

Namine's eyes flickered to him for a moment. "Sick of what?"

"Them," he gestured to the cafeteria. "The way they look down on you and think you're crazy and—"

"It's not their fault," Namine interrupted. "The Blind avoid Seers. It's instinct. Bad things happen around us, and if they didn't avoid us they'd be hurt."

Roxas' eyes flashed. He could understand that. "But don't you ever want—"

"I can't," she said, and there was something hard in her voice, something dangerous. When she spoke again, however, it was gone. "I can't hate them. It's a Seer's duty to protect people."

That noble statement cast Roxas into another contemplative state. He didn't know anything about Seers, not really. They could see ghosts, they didn't like ghosts (usually), and, according to Namine, they were supposed to protect people.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." He didn't feel like explaining any sort of sympathetic feelings he was having to her. He looked down at her again, not entirely surprised to see her staring up at him. She seemed nervous about something.

"Um... Roxas?" The girl asked, still staring at her sketchpad. "Do you mind if I draw you? I didn't ask before, since I thought you were evil, but since we're friends now, I feel like I should ask permission."

Roxas looked at her with mild shock; surprised she referred to them as friends. It made him feel weird. A shockingly good weird.

"Uh, sure, whatever."

"Great!" Namine beamed, turning to a blank page. She drew for the rest of the breakfast period, and Roxas remained more or less stationary, crossing his arms and thinking about Sora, Reno, not Okibi, ghosts, Seers...

Five minutes before the bell signaling first period rang, Roxas was bored out of his skull. Fortunately, Namine didn't mind if he moved around, but without anyone to talk to, he started to miss the others. Even Kuwairo and Okibi. Slowly, he leaned over to Namine, trying to catch a glimpse at her drawing. He managed to see his face before the picture was quickly pulled out of sight. Confused, he looked back to Namine, who held her sketchpad tight to her chest, an uncharacteristic glare on her face.

"Stop judging me!" She yelled, not relinquishing her tight hold on the drawing. Roxas gave her a blank stare.

"...What?" He had no idea what she was talking about.

Namine slowly brought the pad away from her chest, the pad tilted up so she could still draw but not facing Roxas. She continued to glare at the ghost for a moment longer, before regret settled in.

"I'm sorry. I, um, don't like people watching me while I draw. It makes me self-conscious."

Roxas continued to give her a blank stare, not being able to relate to this at all. Namine seemed pretty regretful about what she said, however, so Roxas didn't push her odd behavior.

"Fine, I won't look. Happy?" He pointedly turned away, crossing his arms.

"Thanks, Roxas!" Roxas could hear the beam in her voice.

After the bell rang, Namine got up, sketchpad in one hand, other furiously scribbling away. She clearly intended to draw while she walked, and Roxas wondered if she noticed the problems that might occur as a result. He moved in front of Namine and gently pushed people's back packs to veer them out of her way, much like he did with Sora when he made his way through a crowded hall. It always interested Roxas how few people realized they were being nudged to the side.

He glanced behind him to see Namine engrossed in her drawing, following him closely as he led her to the basement for Art class. He made sure she reached the room safely before getting her attention.

"Hey, Enpi—Namine," he said. The girl blinked up from her drawing and grinned at him. "I'm going to go...somewhere. You mind?"

"'Kay," she said, adjusting her bag and walking happily to her seat, giving an energetic wave to Lexaeus as she went. Roxas shrugged her behavior off and floated lazily up the stairs, bored. He didn't want to bug Sora—if the boy had gone off without him then maybe he needed space—but Neverwas wasn't an appealing option, either. A strange sense of nervousness had been bubbling in the air, and Roxas didn't like it.

Making up his mind, he headed down to the basement, intending to talk to Demyz and Zexion. If they weren't there then he would consider heading to the ghost world for a few minutes, if only to drag them back.

He got lost in his thoughts as he moved, mind twisting and turning in all directions like it did only when something bad had happened. He scowled as he sunk through the floor and arrived in the basement. Nothing bad had happened, nothing big. His mind shouldn't be so cluttered. But he could talk it out with Demyx and Zexion and everything would be okay again, surely.

He was preparing to bellow for his fellow ghosts when a terrified shriek came from the next room. He froze, remembering that Kuwairo and Okibi were skipping class, and threw up his shield before zooming into the room, assuring himself that he wasn't worried, just curious.

What greeted him wasn't the images of blood and pain and terror that the scream had brought to his mind. Instead, Kuwairo was sprawled out on the floor, running hands frantically through his hair, fear still plainly visible on his face. Okibi was only a few feet away, bent over and holding his sides as he laughed at his friend's misfortune. Roxas crossed his arms at the both of them, content with the knowledge that no one could see him and tease him about pouting.

"Your face!" Okibi cackled, trying to right himself. Another round of laughter overtook him and he doubled over again. Kuwairo jumped to his feet, hands giving up their desperate search, and he scowled at the red head.

"That wasn't funny, asshole!" he shouted, but the anger left his face when a hair tickled the side of his face. He swatted at it, and Okibi struggled to get himself under control.

"It was kind of funny," he said, lips twitching as Kuwairo scowled. "You look ridiculous."

"You're one to talk," Kuwairo snapped.

For the first time, Roxas took in their appearances. Kuwairo was covered head to toe with a thin layer of dust and dirt, looking almost like a ghost himself, except for his severe lack of transparency. Okibi wasn't much better, though he seemed to have avoided the dirt, for the most part. In its place was cobwebs. They stuck to his hair and face, but he didn't seem to notice. Roxas dearly wished he had a camera. The memory of Kuwairo's girly scream would have to do. He didn't mind that so much.

"Fucking spiders," Kuwairo growled, stomping hard on the ground. Roxas raised his eyebrows.

Okibi calmed down marginally, still chuckling as he wiped the cobwebs off his body. "How did I not know you had this irrational hatred of spiders? God, I would've done something more about this years ago!"

Roxas paused, smirk slowly growing across his face. I can use this, Roxas thought, ignoring the fact that he sounded somewhat like a mad scientist as he cackled to himself.

Kuwairo glared a deadly glare at Okibi as he wiped the dirt off his body, glancing rapidly around at the ground, walls, and ceiling as he did so. Once sufficiently clean, he and Okibi picked brooms up off the floor Roxas hadn't noticed earlier.

"We should get a can of Raid for this or something," Kuwairo grumbled, making piles of dust from the dirt previously coating his body. "What if those spiders were poisonous? Or there are other bugs down here?"

Okibi rolled his eyes, hitting the wall with his broom. "Sheesh, what have bugs ever done to you? Nam and I don't mind the critters."

Kuwairo avoided Okibi's gaze, focusing mostly on the sweeping. "I just don't like them, okay? I don't wanna talk about it."

Okibi, to Roxas' surprise (as he assumed the redhead enjoyed messing with Kuwairo in this matter), didn't pursue the topic, giving him a sympathetic glance. Roxas furrowed his brow. What was that about?

For a few minutes, Roxas pondered this, as well as wondering what he could do to mess with his two worst enemies while the enemies in question remained silent. Finally, Kuwairo broke the silence.

"So... You said Demyx and Zexion never, uh, passed on like you thought, right? Do you think they'll show up soon? I haven't seen them in a while."

Okibi snorted. "By 'a while' you mean 'three days ago,' right? I'm sure they can manage without our help. They always come back." But he sounded a little worried as well, looking around the room. Roxas frowned, having forgotten his reason for coming down in the first place. Maybe he'd go to Neverwas to check in on them-

Scarily on cue, there was a flickering in the center of the basement, and a moment later the ghost couple appeared, looking the same as always. Nearby on the floor, a mouse squeaked in fright. It was ignored.

"Zemyx!" Okibi cheered, grinning widely. Demyx returned his grin, while Zexion groaned.

"I told you; stop calling us that. It's demeaning." The shorter ghost said, yet the corner of his mouth was twitching slightly in a smile.

Demyx waved happily at Okibi and Kuwairo, who was looking very relieved. "Hi, Riku! Hi, Axel! Hi, Roxas!"

He finished by turning to Roxas, who had forgotten the shield he had up at the moment didn't hide him from other ghosts. Everyone in the room simultaneously froze; Zexion and Roxas with horror, Demyx with regret and alarm, Okibi and Kuwairo with confusion and suspicion.

"...Demyx?" Kuwairo asked the faux-hawked ghost, looking around the room suspiciously. "Who's Roxas"?

"Uh... Uh..." Demyx began, frantically looking around the room. Roxas quickly tried to think of an excuse for his friend, but Demyx had already begun to speak. "T-that mouse! I named that mouse Roxas! He's my f-friend!"

Demyx pointed to the mouse who had previously squeaked, still frozen on the ground. Demyx laughed nervously, floating over the mouse who was now running in circles. "We're friends, right, Roxie?"

_Again with the Roxie, _Roxas thought angrily, while Zexion face-palmed. Okibi and Kuwairo stared at Demyx a little longer, still glaring suspiciously, but as the blond ghost laughed more genuinely, still "playing" with the mouse, they slowly relaxed. Roxas thanked any god that ever existed for Demyx's reputation for random, friendly behavior.

"So," Okibi started, staring determinedly at Zexion, ignoring Demyx who was busy chasing the mouse, "are you guys alright?"

"Sure we are!" Demyx piped up, glancing over at the redhead. The mouse, seizing its opportunity, scurried through a crack in the wall. Demyx failed to notice. "Why do you ask?"

"That evil ghost trapped you guys for a really long time!" Kuwairo interjected. "Aren't there, I dunno, some after effects?"

Demyx, to Roxas' annoyance, had apparently forgotten about his time as being "dead." Roxas glanced expectantly at Zexion to cover up his lover's mistake.

Zexion moved in front of the blond, but Demyx, Roxas could tell, already had a plan.

"There were!" Demyx shouted, flailing his arms. Roxas hid his face in his hands. "It was awful! The pain, and the, um, ooze... Yeah! There was this disgusting green ooze coming out of me and Zexy's ears!"

From his hiding place in his hands, Roxas could hear Zexion, Riku, and Axel all shout simultaneous "what!"s of shock, though Zexion's sounded more angered than actually surprised.

"Yeah!" Demyx continued, interrupting anything Zexion was about to say to stop Demyx spewing random madness. "And then our feet just disappeared for a few hours, and our hair turned purple and got really, really spiky!"

"..." Roxas said, slowly lifting his face. He sighed deeply.

"I'm gonna leave now, guys. Zexion, try to control him. Just a little. Please." Roxas told the two ghosts in a defeated tone, slowly turning around and flying up through the ceiling. The last thing he saw was Zexion nodding, looking exasperated, and Demyx happily shouting, "Bye, Roxas!"

He really didn't care anymore.

DEMYXILOVEYOUSOFREAKINGMUCH

Sora could hear the dramatic, suspenseful music playing in his internal soundtrack as he slowly walked down the empty, white hallway. His shoes made much more echoing noises with every step than was perhaps natural, but it served the scene well.

He paused outside the closed door of Xemnas' office, the music building in his mind. His hand was shaking as he rose it, curled it into a fist. He wished Roxas was here, telling him that he was stupid, making fun of Xemnas' hair or eyes or clothes. They are very odd, Sora thought, knocking on the door while he still had his courage.

"Come in," a familiarly deep, sinister voice called from inside the room. Gulping, Sora slowly pushed the door open.

The room, much to Sora's amazement, was brightly lit, with pretty silver wallpaper. The many shelves around the room were very cluttered with what looked like dolls on first glance, and many of those dolls also covered the floor. On the mahogany desk there was a bowl of jelly beans, what looked suspiciously like a light-saber, and three salt shakers, all with duct tape around the top, Sora assumed to keep the salt inside.

"Please, take a seat," Xemnas said in that same sinister voice that didn't match his messy, colorful office at all. As he gestured to the chair, Sora noticed that the dolls everywhere had needles sticking out of them.

Taking a seat after sweeping one of the probable voodoo dolls onto the floor, Sora looked up at the yellow eyed man, who had pulled a manila folder out of nowhere. Sora took a moment to wonder if this was a talent all counselors possessed, or if Xemnas was just magic.

"How are you today?" The man spoke slowly, as if weighing every word in his mind before speaking them. There was an intensity around him that Sora hadn't ever felt before.

"I'm, uh, good," he said, shrugging nervously. He cast his mind about to the various rules he'd broken since he'd gotten here. Which one was he in trouble for? He'd found out a long time ago to wait until he was called on something to confess.

There was that trip to Hollow Bastion, but Cloud and Leon didn't seem to be too angry with him about that. He'd explored the basement, but so did other kids and he didn't think they'd gotten in too much trouble... Maybe this was about something Roxas did? The ghost had helped him on his last math test. Maybe they thought he was cheating?

"Mr. Hikari?"

Oh, crap. Xemnas had been talking. "Huh? What did you say? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

This, apparently, wasn't the right thing to say. Xemnas narrowed his eyes and Sora thought he saw a muscle in the man's cheek twitch before his face was back to looking professional.

"I was in the midst of telling you that your teachers have noticed a lack of interest in class. I believe the word they used was 'spacey.'" It looked like it caused the man physical pain to say the word.

"What? No, I'm interested," Sora assured. Xemnas slowly raised an eyebrow. Sora wondered if he'd practiced the look in the mirror.

"So you can tell me what you learned in English yesterday?"

"Oh, um... Well, see... We were learning about this... guy, right? This, uh—"

Xemnas didn't appear to be listening to his attempt to bullshit his way out of trouble. Roxas was the one who was good at this stuff, dammit. Sora missed his brother, and was beginning to figure that Reno was the cause of Roxas' spacey attitude. He'd acted this way with Kairi when he'd first met her, and then there was his attitude towards Axel, and now Reno...

What was it with his brother and redheads?

Xemnas opened the folder and began leafing through the pages. Sora fidgeted, grabbed a jellybean, and put it back when the man glared death and daggers at him.

"How were you faring at your old school?" Sora blinked at the man, not comprehending what this had to do with anything at all. "Getting used to a new place can be difficult-"

"What?" Sora laughed. "You think I miss my old school? No way, this one's much cooler." Even though he did miss his ghost friends...

"Yes, your mother mentioned that you'd had some problems."

Sora, who'd gone to picking at a thread on the chair, looked up at this. He tried to hide the surprise on his face. "You talked to her? About me?"

Xemnas was watching him closely, and Sora realized what was going on. The one therapist he'd had tried the same thing before Roxas freaked him out. Asked questions, brought up family, observed his reactions to figure out things Sora wouldn't ever tell them with words. He hated it when people did that. It was like they had some sort of advantage.

"Yes. She sounded concerned about your education should you continue to attend a public school."

Sora sincerely doubted this. He tried not to show it. "Okay."

Xemnas rose his eyebrows. Sora sighed and sunk lower in his seat. "Anything else?" He knew he sounded rude, couldn't bring himself to care.

"Are you under a lot of stress?" Xemnas asked, like Sora hadn't spoken, like they'd been talking about something else this entire time. "Feel free to come to me if you ever are, about coursework or friends. We care about our students, here."

Sora imagined that Roxas would say he sounded creepy when he said that, but from his perspective the man seemed very kind and considerate. He beamed at the counselor, who was rifling through the folder once more. Again, his gaze wandered, noticing a shiny cylinder on the ground next to the mahogany desk. There was a taped label on the can that said, in permanent marker, "Soy Sauce." Sora idly wondered if that was significant.

Looking back up, Sora noticed the man had put the folder away and was staring at him. He hastily tore his gaze away from the cylinder.

"So, how has your social life been?"

_Insanely ridiculous,_ Sora wanted to say, but didn't feel like opening up completely to his counselor. As nice as the man seemed, Sora wasn't very comfortable with telling people other than Roxas his deepest thoughts. Instead, he gave one of his patented huge grins, saying "Oh, it's been good. Better than my grades, I guess."

Xemnas nodded knowingly, but something akin to suspicion flashed across those yellow eyes. Sora repressed a shudder.

"That's good. But since you're doing well with friends, you have no excuse to ignore your studies, as they are very..."

Sora's gaze began to wander, and he stared intently at the colorful voodoo dolls, their bright colors were so mesmerizing-

The dolls were suddenly obstructed by a transparent figure passing through the wall that held them. Sora froze, eyes going wide as dinner plates as he looked over this ghost he'd never seen before. It had long blue hair, wore a black cloak, and had an X across his face. The ghost floated over to Xemnas, paused for a moment behind the man (who didn't even flinch), smirked at Sora, and floated away out the opposite wall.

Sora blinked, mouth dropping open.

"...And you might want to meet with Vexen about this recent chemistry lab, which I see you've gotten a rather poor grade on. Sora?"

Sora could imagine the confusion the counselor must feel, watching him stare dumbly at a spot on the wall. But ghosts didn't usually just leave like that, after nothing but a smirk. There was always something. Taunting or jokes or an introduction.

"Are you alright?" Xemnas asked, scrutinizing the boy.

"I—uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Perfect. Never been better." Sora would have to tell Roxas about this, that there was another ghost wandering around, one that gave Sora a bad feeling. Roxas would find out about him, make sure he wasn't dangerous. Maybe they could even be friends...

"So, um, am I okay to leave now?" Sora asked quickly. He was anxious to tell Roxas about the ghost. And maybe try to hint about the ghost to Riku, Namine, and Axel. Somehow.

"I suppose. Just make sure you continue to put a little more effort into your studies." Xemnas replied, putting Sora's file back into a cabinet, knocking a salt shaker off his desk in the process. Luckily, the top stayed on, thanks to the tape. Sora let that slide.

"Thanks, Xemnas!" Sora smiled at the man, waving as he exited the room. As the door shut behind him, he frowned, biting his lip. Where could Roxas be? Sora began walking back to the cafeteria, but when the familiar "dong" of the bell went off, he remembered that he was supposed to be in class. Chastising himself for forgetting about classes, he rushed off to his second period as students began to fill the halls.

Roxas was bored. His brother hadn't shown up at all for first period and here he was, trailing after Namine on her way to Latin. She kept glancing in his general direction, aware of his presence but not his location. He made a face at her, just because. This was getting uninteresting. He'd have to come up with some new sort of torture for the other Seers, lest he lose interest.

"Riku!" Namine called. Roxas looked around, spotted the silver haired boy, scowled. The boy smirked as Namine drew nearer and Roxas could see some apprehension in her stance. What was going on?

"Hey, I need to talk to you," she said, lowering her voice so that the passing students wouldn't hear. "It's about Sora."

The smirk slid from the boy's face. "What about him?"

Namine fidgeted with the edge of her sleeve, adjusted her sketchbook so she was holding it to her chest like a shield. Roxas raised his eyebrows at her, wondered if he could develop a shield to let only her see him so he could offer moral support. He quickly pushed the thought away. It wasn't like he /cared/ or anything.

"I—well... It's pretty obvious that you have a little crush on him," Namine said, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. Roxas watched interestedly as Kuwairo's face closed off. The bell rang, signaling the start of class. The hallways emptied. Neither Seer moved.

Namine shifted nervously from foot to foot and continued, "and it's good, no, great, that you're finally taking an interest in someone, but Sora... He's... kind of involved with someone already..."

Roxas realized what was going on and breathed a sigh of relief. Namine was going through with her promise to make Kuwairo back off. Why she'd given Sora a fake relationship, he didn't know, but girls seemed to have this innate ability to manipulate men into doing and believing what they wanted them to, so he was all for it. He'd have to thank her later.

If the look on Kuwairo's face was any indication, Roxas was going to have to intervene pretty soon or there wouldn't be a Namine to thank.

"Yeah," the boy said tightly, eyes hard as steel. Namine cautiously raised her own eyes to meet his and made a little squeaking noise, but didn't back down. "I'd gotten that."

His voice was laced with venom and Namine blinked, brows drawing together as she puzzled something out in her mind. She figured it out, apparently, because her mouth dropped open and she pulled the sketchbook tighter to her chest.

"No, not me!" she declared, looking at Kuwairo as if he'd bitten her. Roxas let out a loud laugh that went unheard by the Seers. Kuwairo's glare lessened a bit and suspicion rose around him.

"What was yesterday about, then?" he demanded. Namine rolled her eyes.

"Sora was just being weird, Riku. Jeeze," she said, and Kuwairo's shoulders lost some tension. Roxas scowled at him and wondered if Sora would mind terribly if he dropped something on the boy's head. Namine also realized where his thoughts were going, and hurriedly added, "that doesn't mean you can go after him! He's taken, Riku. It's..." she struggled to find the words, gave up, sighed, "a long distance thing. Really sweet, actually. So just... leave him be, okay?"

Roxas admired her ingenuity, but, to his discomfort, Kuwairo was not nearly as broken hearted as he should have been.

"Yeah," he shrugged, avoiding Namine's gaze. "Sure. Wouldn't want to get between them."

"I'm glad you understand." She really did sound relieved. If Roxas wasn't so severely dead he would have tugged at his hair.

"Yeah," Kuwairo said shortly. "We should probably get to class."

Namine's eyes widened, having completely forgot that they had to attend class in boarding school. "Oh no!" And with that she bolted towards the stairs, leaving Roxas glaring death at Kuwairo's stupid face.

Deep in thought of how to make Kuwairo pay (lots of blood and apples were involved in his current plans), Roxas jumped when a teacher called out from down the hallway.

"Hey, class started ten minutes ago! Get a move on!" The nameless teacher called. Kuwairo swore and ran off. Roxas hoped he would trip and fall and die.

The teacher muttered something else about no running in the halls, but shrugged and walked off. Roxas glared at the retreating back for not punishing Kuwairo even more. Deciding to go find his brother to make sure the boy wasn't mad at him for whatever reason, Roxas floated up to Latin.

"Hey, Sora," he greeted when he arrived. His brother spun around, blue eyes narrowed. Roxas raised an eyebrow at him.

"You left me!" he shouted, pointing at Roxas, who looked around to find that the entire class had fallen silent. His hand dropped and he blushed bright red. The class returned to their previous activities, brushing this off. Roxas reflected on how awesome this class was.

"Did something happen?" the ghost asked as his brother sat down next to Namine. The brunet smiled at her.

"No—wait..." he thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Nope."

"That's cool," Roxas said, temporarily letting Namine see her, as he noticed the girl was looking for him after Sora's outburst. "I've been-"

"Wait!" Sora interrupted, thinking intensely. Roxas and Namine stared at him for a moment as he thought. Anti-climatically, he shook his head.

"Never mind."

Roxas sighed at his forgetful brother. He'd remember it eventually. Probably.


End file.
